Practice 2 Report - An Affair

By Dan Knutson in Interlagos

Free Practice 2 for the Brazilian Grand Prix was a team-by-team affair as the top eight spots were filled, in order, by the drivers from the Mercedes, Williams, Red Bull and Ferrari teams. Ninth place was an anomaly with a Force India, and then the team-by-team formation continued with the drivers from McLaren and then Toro Rosso.

Fastest of all in this affair was Lewis Hamilton.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 118 degrees Fahrenheit (48 degrees Centigrade.) There was a 40 percent chance of rain.

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes “ Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Ferrari “ Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Williams Mercedes “ Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Red Bull TAG Heuer “ Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. Force India Mercedes “ Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Renault “ Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer. Toro Rosso Ferrari “ Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz. Sauber Ferrari “ Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr. McLaren Honda “ Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Manor Mercedes “ Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon. Haas Ferrari “ Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez.

Hamilton had topped FP1 with his time of 1:11.895 using the medium compound Pirellis. The other two compounds available were the soft and the hard.

Gutierrez and Magnussen were the first out. Ricciardo, on the medium tires, set an early maker with a lap of 1:13.748, but Rosberg did not even venture out in the first 10 minutes, and Hamilton stayed put for 13 minutes.

Rosberg used the medium Pirellis to turn a 1:13.924, which was fourth best behind Ricciardo, Verstappen and Vettel. Rosberg's next lap of 1:13.355 put him in first place, but only for a few seconds before Hamilton crossed the line to record a 1:13.157 on the mediums.

With the initial round of runs over, the order was: Hamilton, Rosberg, Bottas, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Vettel, Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso and Perez.

FP2 was 21 minutes old when Ricciardo lapped on the soft compound Pirellis to set a time of 1:12.828. Raikkonen's soft run was 0.219 of a second slower.

Just before the one-third mark of FP2, hometown hero Massa topped the times with a 1:12.789. Then his teammate Bottas beat that with 1:12.761.

Next, it was Rosberg's turn, and he turned a 1:12.301 to take first only to have Hamilton turn a 1:12.271.

With just under 50 minutes remaining, most of the drivers were in the pits preparing for their race simulations.

With 36 minutes remaining as McLaren radioed Alonso to stop immediately. Which he did at Turn 3, and then he jumped out of the car which had a problem with the ERS. Alonso used a good old fashioned rock to keep his high-tech machine from rolling away. Unlike last year when he was stranded out on the course he did not have a deckchair to relax in. But he eventually was offered a chair and a view of a TV screen by an on-track cameraman.

The top 10 at the end of FP2 were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Bottas, Massa, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Vettel, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg and Button.