Singapore GP 2014

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

Practice 2 Report - Night Trio

Lewis Hamilton, Singapore GP 2014
© Actice Pictures

 

Three different cars filled the top three spots in Free Practice 3 held late at night on the Singapore streets. Lewis Hamilton was quickest in his Mercedes, followed by Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Centigrade.) The chance of rain was 10 percent.

Marcus Ericsson steered his Caterham out of pit lane to get things going.

5 minutes into the session, Ericsson's teammate Kamui Kobayashi had a quick spin at Turn 8 and managed to avoid the barriers. By now Max Chilton was on top of the times with a 1:54.539 in his Marussia.

8 minutes into the session, and the McLaren boys were in front as Kevin Magnussen posted a 1:51.664 and Jenson Button a 1:51.910.

The Force India boys had an answer for that, as Sergio Perez posted a 1:51.446 and Nico Hulkenberg a 1:51.621,

10 minutes into the session, Jean Eric Vergne, who had shown a flash of speed in FP1 in his Toro Rosso, topped the times with a 1:50.961 while Button claimed second with a 1:51.108.

Missing from action was Sebastian Vettel whose Red Bull had had an power unit failure at the end of FP1.

12 minutes into the session, Daniel Ricciardo knocked over half a second off of Vergne's time with a 1:50.390 in his Red Bull.

14 minutes into the session, Kimi Raikkonen moved his Ferrari into second after clocking a 1:50.900.

As in FP1, the drivers were running on Pirelli's soft compound tires with the yellow sidewalls.

16 minutes into the session, Ferrari radioed instructions to Fernando Alonso in Italian. The team was being a bit cheeky given the new radio transmission restrictions, but the FIA claimed to be satisfied after FP1 that all teams had adhered to the rule.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton headed to the front with a 1:50.139, which his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg beat that with a 1:49.075. Then Alonso popped into second with a 1:49387.

Hamilton radioed in that the car was impossible to drive. Raikkonen in car 7, meanwhile, went off the track at Turn 7. The team told him to try a different differential setting.

minutes into the session,

23 minutes into the session, Button complained about understeer and pitted for a front wing adjustment.

24 minutes into the session, Rosberg radioed in and asked if the team was allowed to tell him lap times of his teammate. "You're three tenths faster, but not compared to your teammate," his engineer said.

At the one-third mark, the top six were: Rosberg, Alonso, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas (Williams) and Vergne. Button, Felipe Massa (Williams), Raikkonen and Magnussen rounded out the top 10.

31 minutes into the session, Esteban Gutirrez, with the super soft Pirellis on his Sauber, turned a 1:49.290. Then Perez, on the super softs with the red sidewalls, went to the front with a 1:48.653. Adrian Sutil (Sauber on super softs) moved into third with a 1:49.170. Rosberg, who had done a 1:49.075 on the softs, remained in second place.

34 minutes into the session, Ricciardo headed out on the super softs. Perez was ahead with a 1:48.653 at the time. But then Ricciardo rammed in a 1:47.790.

Caterham told Kamui Kobayashi that the super softs gave a 2.5 seconds advantage over the softs.

40 minutes into the session, the top six were: Ricciardo, Perez, Hulkenberg, Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) and Vergne. But then Raikkonen did a run on the super softs to grab second place while Magnussen moved into third.

43 minutes into the session, Rosberg had a go on the super softs, but the lap was spoiled by Pastor Maldonado who slammed his Lotus sideways into the wall at Turn 10. That brought out the red flags 44 minutes into the session.

15 seconds before the halfway mark and with the session stopped, the top 10 were: Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Magnussen, Perez, Hulkenberg, Kvyat, Vergne, Romain Grosjean (Lotus) and the unfortunate Maldonado.

After a delay of 6 minutes, the session was restarted as Maldonado walked down pit lane to the Lotus garage. Hamilton headed out on the super softs.

With 36 minutes remaining in the session, Hamilton posted a 1:47.490, which was .300 of second quicker than Ricciardo.

Now Rosberg was having another go on the super softs. But he messed up on the last corner and cut across pit entry. Alonso now had jumped to fourth. Vettel's time was zero has he still had not turned a lap.

With 31 minutes remaining in the session, Alonso grabbed second place with a 1:47.623.

With 30 minutes remaining in the session, only Hamilton, Button and Vettel were in the pits. As usual, the final part of FP2 was used for long runs on the super soft and soft tires to see how they would degrade.

The top 10 with one-third of the session to go were: Hamilton, Alonso, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Magnussen, Button, Perez, Hulkenberg, Kvyat and Vergne.

Hulkenberg's engineer told him he as .4 of a second off the pace. But with the new rules he could not tell his driver where he was losing the time.

Then this message to another driver: "Use the toys to help the rear if you can."

With 10 minutes remaining in the session, Max Chilton had to pull off the track when his team told him the car was on fire.

With 7 minutes remaining in the session, Vettel finally left the garage. His Red Bull was fitted with the red sidewall tires.

With 6 minutes remaining in the session, only Rosberg and the crashed out Maldonado were not on track.

With 5 minutes remaining in the session, Rosberg joined the fray.

Vettel was flying and slotted into fifth place with a 1:48.115. He improved that to a 1:48.041 but remained fifth.

The top 10 at the end of FP2 were: Hamilton, Alonso, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Vettel, Magnussen, Button, Perez, Hulkenberg and Kvyat.