Practice 2 Report - Mixed Bag

Team Mercedes, of course, was quickest in Free Practice 2, with Lewis Hamilton beating teammate Nico Rosberg. The cars behind them, however, were a mixed bag with a Red Bull (Sebastian Vettel), a Ferrari (Fernando Alonso), and McLaren (Kevin Magnussen) next in the order.

Ninety minutes earlier: on came the green light to open pit exit but nobody was there to exit the pits. The drivers were leisurely suiting up and climbing into their cars. Max Chilton, who had done only 5 laps in FP1 because his car caught fire, was anxious to go, however, and soon set off in his Marussia.

5 minutes into the session, Chilton clocked a 1:34.426, but Marcus Ericsson (Caterham) soon beat that with a 1:34.239.

6 minutes into the session, Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) went quickest with a time of 1:28.781. Pastor Maldonado topped that with a 1:28.751 in his Lotus. Hulkenberg responded with a 1:28.336.

The drivers were running on Pirelli‘s medium compound slicks with the white sidewalls.

11 minutes into the session, Fernando Alonso posted a 1:27.199 in his Ferrari while Button moved his McLaren into second place with a 1:28.136.

14 minutes into the session, Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) beat Button with a time of 1:27.740.

15 minutes into the session, Nico Rosberg jumped ahead with a lap of 1:27.112 in his Mercedes. Vettel shot back with a 1:26.949 to take the top spot. That didn‘t last long as Lewis Hamilton moved ahead with a 1:26.225 in his Mercedes. Rosberg came back with a 1:26.696. Hamilton improved to a 1:26.161.

At the 30 minute mark the top six were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Alonso and Williams teammates Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.

31 minutes into the session, Hulkenberg moved into third after turning a 1:26.870.

34 minutes into the session, Kamui Kobayashi spun his Caterham at Turn 8 and continued.

36 minutes into the session, Daniel Ricciardo tried the soft tires on his Red Bull. He went from ninth to first with a time of 1:25.983. Then Vettel, on softs, beat that with a 1:25.111.

40 minutes into the session, Bottas, on softs, turned a 1:26.053 to grab third place.

Now more drivers were out there on Pirelli‘s super soft tires with the yellow sidewalls.

42 minutes into the session, Rosberg, on softs, slammed in a 1:24. 720. Hamilton‘s run on softs was ruined when he slid wide at Turn 3. Massa, meanwhile, spun at Turn 6.

45 minutes into the session, Hamilton topped the times with a 1:24.513.

The top six were now: Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Ricciardo, Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari).

With 41 minutes remaining in the session, Hamilton was on another flier and he crossed the line with a time of 1:24.482. Meanwhile Kevin Magnussen slotted his McLaren into fourth place. His teammate Jenson Button was eighth.

With 37 minutes remaining in the session, Alonso, who had been 16th, took over fourth place with a time of 1:25.437 in his Ferrari.

With 33 minutes remaining in the session, many drivers had completed their runs on new soft tires and headed for the pits.

The top 10 were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Alonso, Magnussen, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Bottas, Button and Massa.

Now it was time to run on the tires for many laps so see how long they would last.

Bottas‘ engineer radioed to him: ‘Change of plan Valtteri, long run on this tire, the other car had a problem with their options, so we'll long run on this tire...until it dies."

The race run simulations continued as the session wound down with the Mercedes looking comfortably fastest on used tires.

With 13 minutes remaining in the session, only Massa (whose car had problem) and Jules Bianchi (Marussia) were not on track, and then Bianchi headed out to leave Massa as the sole garage resident.

With 10 minutes remaining in the session, Rosberg radioed that his tires were finished and he pitted for a different set of rubber.

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