Practice 2 Report - Silver, Grey and Red Medals

The Russian Grand Prix is staged in Sochi, home of the Winter Olympics where they handed out gold, silver and bronze medals. The top three cars at the end of Free Practice 2 were silver - Mercedes/Lewis Hamilton, grey - McLaren/Kevin Magnussen and red - Ferrari/Fernando Alonso.

Max Chilton (Marussia) was the first out in the 90-minute session. Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were leisurely getting ready to go out.

It was sunny with a temperature of 66 degrees Fahrenheit, 19 degrees Celsius.

The reports from the drivers and engineers from FP1 was that the green track had low grip.

Chilton set the first lap time: 1:53.499.

7 minutes into the session, Valtteri Bottas set a time of 1:44.109 in his Williams. But Kevin Magnussen immediately beat that with a 1:43.961 in his McLaren. His teammate Jenson Button then topped that with a 1:43.155.

10 minutes into the session, Bottas posted a 1:42.669. Button responded with a 1:41.928.

13 minutes into the session, Sebastian Vettel got into the act with a time of 1:43.272 to be third quickest in his Red Bull.

15 minutes into the session, Rosberg topped the times with a 1:41.882.

Romain Grosjean continued to have problems with his Lotus. "I don't know guys, the car is all over the place," he radioed.

17 minutes into the session, Hamilton went fastest with a 1:41.750. Rosberg responded with a 1:48.508.

The drivers were on the medium tires with the white sidewalls.

21 minutes into the session, Fernando Alonso slotted his Ferrari into fourth with a time of 1:42.527.

The top six at the half hour mark were: Rosberg, Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Felipe Massa (Williams) and Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso.) The Red Bulls of Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo were down in 11th and 12th.

Grosjean had more troubles: "Yeah, there is a problem guys, I cannot drive."

And then Kvyat radioed: "Car is lazy, unresponsive, and I have no grip. So we will box." And be bought his car into the pits.

41 minutes into the session, some of the top drivers including Button, Rosberg, Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) began lapping on Pirelli's soft tires with the yellow sidewalls.

Ricciardo only improved to 10th. But Nico Hulkenberg moved his Force India into second with a 1:41.677 as Raikkonen grabbed fifth place.

45 minutes into the session, Button took over first with a 1:41.196 only to have Rosberg top that with a 1:41.027. Then Kevin Magnussen slid his McLaren into second with a 1:41.065. Hamilton could only get the fourth best time on his run on the softs.

49 minutes into the session, Magnussen topped the times with a 1:40.494, but then Hamilton posted a 1:39.817.

52 minutes into the session, Rosberg improved to a 1:40.542 but was still third behind Hamilton and Magnussen.

54 minutes into the session, Hamilton clocked a 1:39.630. Button was fourth ahead of Williams teammates Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. The first non-Mercedes powered car was Rakkonen's Ferrari in seventh place.

Vettel was struggling and down in 16th place, but he with 24 minutes to go he finally got up to ninth while Alonso took seventh. Hometown hero Kvyat was eighth.

Vettel said he was losing power but the team said it probably was a strong headwind.

In the final half hour the teams and drivers concentrated on long runs to check out tire degradation.

With 20 minutes remaining in the session, the top 10 were: Hamilton, Magnussen, Rosberg, Bottas, Button, Massa, Alonso, Kvyat, Vettel and Jean-Eric-Vergne (Toro Rosso).

The soft tires were lasting very well indeed as with 18 minutes to go Alonso jumped to third with a time of 1:40.504.

With 8 minutes remaining in the session, the session was red flagged as Ricciardo's Red Bull coasted to a stop on the track. "I think she's gone," he radioed.

With 3 minutes remaining in the session, the session was restarted.

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