Practice 2 Report - One Point Two For Two

The two Mercedes drivers were comfortably quickest in FP2. Lewis Hamilton was fastest overall, with a lap time 1.2 seconds quicker than Valtteri Bottas in the Williams. Nico Rosberg was 0.240 of a second slower than Hamilton.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 111 degrees Fahrenheit (44 degrees Centigrade.)

Marussia driver Max Chilton was the first out on the track followed by Lotus driver Romain Grosjean. The latter posted a 1:38.440 to give the other drivers something to aim at.

Just 7 minutes into the session, Kamui Kobayashi spun and crashed his Caterham at Turn 4.

Meanwhile Kevin Magnussen put his McLaren on top of the timing screens with a time of 1:37.278.

15 minutes into the session, Jean-Eric Vergne stopped his Toro Rosso at Turn 7. And Daniel Ricciardo topped the times with his Red Bull by setting a 1:37.186.

18 minutes into the session, Ricciardo crashed at Turn 18, the last corner, which is an odd place to crash. His considerate teammate Sebastian Vettel radioed in and asked if Daniel was okay.

At this stage of FP2 the drivers were using the hard compound Pirelli slicks.

25 minutes into the session, Valtteri Bottas clocked a 1:37.286 to slot his Williams into third behind Ricciardo and Magnussen, and ahead of Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) and Felipe Massa (Williams.)

26 minutes into the session, the red flags came out because Ricciardo's car was still parked alongside the wall at the exit of Turn 18.

The top six at this time were: Ricciardo, Magnussen, Bottas, Kvyat, Massa, Jenson Button (McLaren), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Grosjean, and Sauber teammates Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil. Mercedes teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were 18th and 19th respectively.

The session was restarted after an eight minute stoppage. Hamilton and Rosberg were anxiously waiting at pit exit along with Vettel to get out on track as soon as possible.

37 minutes into the session, Hamilton clocked a 1:35.432 while Rosberg clocked a 1:36.865 after making a mistake at the chicane.

38 minutes into the session, Gutierrez spun his Sauber and hit the wall at Turn 13. And Kimi Raikkonen set a 1:36.529 in his Ferrari to split the Mercedes drivers.

42 minutes into the session, Kvyat went off track at Turn 8 but managed not to hit anything.

Midway through FP2 the top six were: Hamilton, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Magnussen and Bottas.

Now Button, in 11th place, was out on the medium compound Pirelli tires. He jumped to second with a 1:36.409.

With 43 minutes remaining in the session, Hamilton, on the mediums, nearly lost control of his car under the bridge.

With 41 minutes remaining in the session, Vettel, on the mediums, jumped to fourth place. Hamilton clocked a 1:35.078 to retain first place.

With 39 minutes remaining in the session, as the runs on mediums continued, Button jumped to third.

Now Rosberg was on the mediums, and he improved to a 1:35.318, which was 0.240 of a second slower than Hamilton. The Mercedes guys were a full second quicker than Bottas.

With 36 minutes remaining in the session, Nico Hulkenberg who was 15th in his Force India, headed out on the medium tires. He moved up to 10th.

At the one hour mark the top 10 were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Bottas, Button, Vettel and Raikkonen, Alonso, Magnussen, Kvyat and Ricciardo.

In the final 30 minutes the drivers and teams concentrated on long runs on both tire compounds.

With 23 minutes remaining in the session, Toro Rosso radioed to Jean-Eric Vergne that it might rain on some parts of the track in the next few minutes. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez, who had been in the garage the whole session, turned his first lap in the Force India.

With 17 minutes remaining in the session, Perez reported rain in Turn 11.

With 8 minutes remaining in the session, Raikkonen was off and back on at Turn 15.

The rain was holding off, giving the drivers a chance at turning laps on the dry track in the last 7 minutes. But just like that it started to rain at some parts of the circuit.

With 3 minutes remaining in the session, the red flags came out again as Vergne parked his car on the track at Turn 14. And that brought an end to FP2.

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