SOCHI, Russia — Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two in second practice for the Russian Grand Prix as the Italian team laid down a marker of its pace ahead of the race weekend.
After seeing teammate Kimi Raikkonen go quickest in FP1, championship leader Vettel continued Ferrari’s strong start to the weekend, posting a 1:34.120. Most eye-catching of all was the gap to Mercedes after the qualifying simulations, with Valtteri Bottas 0.670s behind on a circuit many expected the world champions to be strongest on this weekend.
Raikkonen finished second in the other Ferrari, 0.2s behind his teammate. While Ferrari looked comfortable in the qualifying simulations, Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, in particular, appeared to struggle to get the most out of Pirelli’s ultra-soft tyre. Hamilton twice aborted a lap after running wide at Turn 4 on flying lap attempts, before locking up to avoid the Sauber of Pascal Wehrlein. His final attempt of 1:34.829 was a scruffy one, suggesting there is more pace to come from the Mercedes if both drivers hook up a perfect lap.
Max Verstappen finished best of the rest for Red Bull in fifth in a session which saw him stop on track at the end of the session with a lack of fuel pressure, ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Red Bull appears to have dropped further behind the leaders after coming closer in Bahrain, looking set once again to be stuck between the lead pair and the midfield battle.
Felipe Massa and Williams led the midfield duel, 2.1s off the lead, with Nico Hulkenberg finishing an impressive eighth, just 0.06s off the Brazilian driver. Kevin Magnussen and the Force Indias followed, ahead of 12th-place Fernando Alonso, who completed 27 laps. Jolyon Palmer finished 13th, 0.4s off teammate Nico Hulkenberg.
Romain Grosjean had a very scruffy session in 14th, complaining about his Carbon Industrie brakes Haas trialled on Friday before the team decides whether to keep them on the car ahead of Saturday’s running, with a return to Brembo the other option. Grosjean had a spin towards the end of the session, prompting more complaints over the radio.
Stoffel Vandoorne returned to the track to finish 16th, finishing between Toro Rosso drivers Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat. Vandoorne has a 15-place grid penalty to serve later this weekend after an MGU-K issue in the morning session prompted McLaren-Honda into a full-scale engine change before FP2 — moving him onto his fifth MGU-H and turbocharger. With a big penalty to come, it is unlikely Vandoorne focused too much on one-lap pace, though his three-second gap to the front will still make for depressing reading for anyone affiliated with the team.
Wehrlein finished 18th, ahead of Lance Stroll, who finished much lower down the order than his FP1 after not setting a time on the ultra-soft tyre, but still completed a healthy 36 laps of running. Marcus Ericsson rounded out the order in the other Sauber.
Source: Ferrari beats Mercedes to fastest times in Friday practice
No comments:
Post a Comment