Spanish GP 2015

MAY 8, 2015

Practice 2 Report - Mixed Grill

Lewis Hamilton, Spanish GP 2015
© The Cahier Archive

 

Free Practice 3 produced a mixed grill of Mercedes/Ferrari/Mercedes/Ferrari with Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen ending up at in that order at the top of the time sheets.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Centigrade).

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.

Ericsson was the first out on the track. And so he also set the first time: 1:33.041. He lowered that to a 1:32.803.

In this session the drivers would use both the medium and hard compound Pirelli slicks.

8 minutes into the session, Vettel clocked a 1:29.394. Then he set a 1:29.085.

12 minutes into the session, Rosberg shaved 0.010 of a second off of Vettel's best.

14 minutes into the session, Hamilton set a 1:27.826.

15 minutes into the session, the red flags came out after Grosjean's Lotus shredded bodywork all over the pit straight.

19 minutes into the session, the green lights came on to get things going again. The top four were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel and Raikkonen.

25 minutes into the session, and Ricciardo was still in the pits. The mechanics were changing the engine in his car. Vettel, meanwhile, was now running the medium compound Pirellis.

28 minutes into the session, Vettel turned a 1:27.260.

31 minutes into the session, Nasr, on the mediums, went from 14th to sixth.

32 minutes into the session, Massa began a flying lap on the mediums. He moved into fourth place behind Vettel, Raikkonen (who had set his time on the mediums) and Hamilton.

37 minutes into the session, Hamilton left the pits with the medium slicks on his Mercedes.

38 minutes into the session, Rosberg grabbed second place with a lap of 1:27.616.

41 minutes into the session, Hamilton beat that with a 1:26.852.

43 minutes into the session, all the drivers were in the pits. The order was now: Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Bottas, Sainz, Massa, Kvyat and Nasr. Ricciardo was still in the pits, waiting while the crew changed the engine on his car.

With 35 minutes remaining in the session, Kvyat started a lap on the medium Pirellis. He went from 11th to fifth, but was a second slower than Hamilton.

With most of the runs on the new medium tires now complete, the drivers started to do long runs on both Pirelli compounds.

With 25 minutes remaining in the session, the top 10 were: Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Kvyat, Verstappen, Button, Bottas, Sainz and Massa.

With 22 minutes remaining in the session, only Ricciardo and Grosjean, who both had car problems, were not on track.

With 16 minutes remaining in the session, Grosjean left the pits in his repaired car. He got up to 12th place, so the order of the top 10 remained unchanged for the rest of the session: Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Kvyat, Verstappen, Button, Bottas, Sainz and Massa.

With 5 minutes remaining in the session, Ricciardo left the pits. He was on the medium tires. He clocked the 13th best time but did only four laps.