Practice 2 Report - Flip Flop

Nico Rosberg was quickest in Free Practice 1 while his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton clocked the second best time, but the order flip flopped in FP2 with Hamilton on top and Rosberg next. Ferrari was the best of the rest with Fernando Alonso third ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Centigrade.)

Max Chilton led the way in his Marussia as FP2 began on a sunny and windy afternoon.

Missing from action was Felipe Massa who had crashed his Williams in FP1 and mechanics were still repairing the car. The Williams crew had also changed the engine in the car that had had oil pressure woes when Susie Wolff drove it briefly in FP1. Now Valtteri Bottas was back in the car and out on the track.

Bottas set the first quick time - 1:39.032 - but Daniil Kvyat beat that with a 1:38.075 in his Toro Rosso. And then Jenson Button clocked a 1:37.608 in his McLaren. He then lowered that to a 1:37.414

11 minutes into the session, Bottas clocked a 1:37.363 only to have Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) beat that with a 1:36.024. Kevin Magnussen slotted his McLaren into second place with a 1:37.264.

15 minutes into the session, Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) took over second with a time of 1:36.222. His teammate Lewis Hamilton was now third with a 1:36.694.

At this stage the drivers were all on Pirelli's hard compound tires - the Prime - with the orange sidewalls. Later the drivers would try out the medium compound (the Option tire) with the white sidewalls.

20 minutes into the session, Hamilton topped the timing screens with a 1:35.424 while Rosberg now had set a 1:35.645.

25 minutes into the session, Daniil Kvyat did a brilliant job pulling his Toro Rosso back from almost spinning.

28 minutes into the session, Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) jumped to second with a 1:35.511.

30 minutes into the session, the top six were: Hamilton, Ricciardo, Rosberg, Alonso, Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Magnussen.

31 minutes into the session, Massa in the repaired Williams was up to eighth in the times.

Several drivers were now using the medium tires including Esteban Gutierrez who slotted his Sauber into sixth place.

34 minutes into the session, Romain Grosjean bounced off the track at Turn 7 and continued in his Lotus.

39 minutes into the session, Rosberg, on mediums, clocked a 1:34.736. Hamilton, also on mediums, came back with a 1:34.508.

44 minutes into the session, Alonso took his Ferrari with the medium tires to third place with a 1:35.244.

Midway through FP2 the top six were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Alonso, Ricciardo, Vettel and Bottas. Button, Magnussen, Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) rounded out the top 10.

With 42 minutes remaining in the session, Ricciardo did a run on the mediums and said it was taking a while to get them up to temperature. He did not improve on his time set on the hard compound tires.

With most of their quick laps over, the drivers and teams now began working on long runs on the medium and hard tires.

With 30 minutes remaining in the session, Hamilton stopped on track with engine and gearbox problem on his Mercedes.

With 25 minutes remaining in the session, the top 10 were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Alonso, Ricciardo, Vettel, Bottas, Button, Magnussen, Raikkonen and Vergne, so it was unchanged from the midpoint of FP2. Down at the bottom was Jules Bianchi who had completed just four laps in his Marussia.

With 13 minutes remaining in the session, the left front wheel on Vergne's car tried to part company with the hub. He managed to get the car to a halt before anything worse happened.

With 6 minutes remaining in the session, bits of the engine cover on Bottas' car started to tear away.

Meanwhile, Marcus Ericsson's Caterham had suffered a major engine failure.

There was little further drama as the session wound down and the top 10 remained the same. Still, the track was busy with most drivers out there doing their long runs.