Practice 2 Report - He did it again

By Dan Knutson

Lewis Hamilton was again the quickest driver in the streets of Baku as he topped Free Practice 2 just as he had done in FP1 earlier in the day. His teammate Nico Rosberg was second quickest, but it was not all smooth sailing for the Mercedes team as Rosberg's car stopped with a mechanical problem late in the session.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Centigrade.)

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 Rio Haryanto. Haas Ferrari - Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez.

Grosjean, Gutierrez and Vettel were the first out in FP2. During the break between FP1 and FP2 workers had had to weld the red and white curb sections together after it was discovered that the bolts holding the curbs to the track were working loose. And that caused cut tires during the GP2 practice session.

The Red Bull mechanics had also been hard at work, repairing Ricciardo's crashed car and Verstappen's oil leak.

"Thanks for getting me out on time fellas," Ricciardo said. "Appreciate it."

Sainz set the early pace with a lap in 1:48.691. Perez beat that with a 1:47.891.

As in FP1, the drivers were exploring the limits of the slippery track, and go down the run off areas at Turn 1, Turn 3 and elsewhere.

"Watch the exit curb at Turn 6, Kimi - it's an instruction from race control," Ferrari radioed to Raikkonen. "Do not touch the exit curb at Turn 6."

Hamilton got up to speed with a 1:45.102 on the soft Pirellis, while Rosberg turned a 1:45.880 on the medium compound. Bottas slotted into third with a lap of 1:46.519 on the super softs. But Bottas soon improved to a 1:45.764.

Thirty minutes into the session, Rosberg got down to a 1:44.913.

"The times are already more than a second faster than this morning, despite some harder compounds being used," Pirelli tweeted.

Hamilton, Bottas, Sainz, Vettel, Alonso, Perez, Verstappen, Hulkenberg and Massa rounded out the top 10 at this stage.

Then, 42 minutes into the session, Hamilton used the super softs to take over first with a 1:44.223. Perez was on the move as well, taking third with a 1:45.336.

At the one hour mark, the top 10 were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Perez, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Verstappen, Vettel, Button and Ricciardo. The latter was a full two seconds slower than Hamilton.

And now the drivers were in long run territory, doing many laps on the super soft tires to see how they would hold up in the race. So it was very busy out on the 20-turn track.

Twenty-two minutes remained in FP2 when Rosberg parked his car at Turn 18. "Problem with the drive," he radioed. That brought out the Virtual Safety Car.

Later, Raikkonen had his rear wheels lock up and he went straight off at Turn 5. Ferrari immediately radioed Vettel and told him to drive slowly back to the pits.

The top 10 at the end of FP2 remained: Hamilton, Rosberg, Perez, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Verstappen, Vettel, Button and Ricciardo.