Practice 2 Report - Rain Check

Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg set the quickest times early in Free Practice 2. The other drivers had to take a rain check and will have to wait to see who was faster than whom because it started to rain just 20 minutes into the session.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Centigrade). There was a 40 percent chance of rain.

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes - Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Red Bull Renault - Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat. Williams Mercedes - Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari - Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. McLaren Honda - Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Force India Mercedes - Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Toro Rosso Renault - Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. Lotus Mercedes - Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. Marussia Ferrari - Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi. Sauber - Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.

Rosberg and Stevens were the first out on track. Vettel was the first to get below the 1:20 barrier with a time of 1:19.733.

7 minutes into the session, everybody was out on track except Ericsson.

8 minutes into the session, Sainz took over first with a 1:18.772.

10 minutes into the session, it was a Mercedes one-two as Hamilton had now set a 1:17.640 and Rosberg a 1:17.932. And, again, everybody but Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) was out on the track at this stage. And everybody was using Pirellis soft tires.

13 minutes into the session, Hamilton went even quicker - 1:19.192.

14 minutes into the session, the red flags came out as Merhi lost control of his car coming out of the tunnel and hit the barriers.

The top 10 at this time were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Raikkonen, Kvyat, Sainz, Verstappen, Alonso, Hulkenberg and Grosjean.

Perez, Massa, Bottas, Maldonado, Button, Ricciardo, Nasr, Merhi, Stevens and Ericsson filled out the bottom half of the field.

20 minutes into the session, the green lights restarted FP3. A light rain began falling in some areas of the Principality.

24 minutes into the session, Maldonado headed out on the super soft tires. No way was that going to work on the wet track, and he headed for the garages.

27 minutes into the session, everybody was in the pits. And they stayed in the pits as the rain increased. The teams were not going to risk getting their cars crunched if their drivers spun on the wet track.

With 27 minutes remaining in the session, all the drivers were still in the garages. It had stopped raining but the track was still soaked.

With 12 minutes remaining in the session, Bottas put on his helmet, and Kvyat was sitting in his car ready to go.

With 11 minutes remaining in the session, Massa put on his helmet.

With 10 minutes remaining in the session, Alonso headed out on track. So did Ricciardo and Kvyat. They were on the intermediate rain tyres.

With 8 minutes remaining in the session, Button and Massa set forth.

With 4 minutes remaining in the session, Bottas, Rosberg and others also headed out.

And that was that for FP2.