Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was fastest in second practice ahead of this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix. The German set his fastest time on the supersoft tyres to go just over a quarter of a second faster than his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Vettel set is time after being a bit cautious on his opening lap because of “engine hesitation”, however, he was soon able to put his foot down to go faster than his team-mate. Mercedes who have dominated this race since 2014, appear to be on the back foot.
Mercedes Valtteri Bottas was third fastest six-tenths off the pace the Ferrari had set. However, both the Mercedes had a messy afternoon and struggled to get their tyres into the best operating window. Lewis Hamilton had been forced to abort his first two runs because of mistakes.
However, looking at the long run pace of Bottas looked like in race trim Mercedes could be a serious challenge to Ferrari. But the prancing horses may have the advantage on qualifying pace, but Mercedes tend not to unleash the full potential of the car until Saturday.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was the best of the rest in fifth. However, the Dutchman was forced to stop on track towards the end of the session because of a loss of power. But, he was ahead of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo who was a further three-tenths behind.
Red Bull appear not to have the pace of Ferrari and Mercedes, appearing as if they have slipped further behind.
Felipe Massa topped the midfield battle in seventh, just over two tenths ahead of the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg. Once again, the midfield appears very close on pace, with the gap between Massa and Jolyon Palmer in thirteen was half a second.
In that group was Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso.
McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne was hit by reliability issues early on in the session. The Belgian goes into qualifying tomorrow, knowing he is probably going to start last after the team moved him onto his fifth MGU-H of the season.
This underlines, how dire the situation has become between McLaren and Honda, as they have not even reached the quarter of the season mark. But, they are exceeding their engine allocation of five units at the fourth round of the season.
Romain Grosjean carried on his evaluation of Carbon Industrie brakes Haas trialled on Friday before the team decides whether to keep them on the car ahead of Saturday’s running, with a return to Brembo the other option. Friday practice, complained of understeer throughout as he finished 14th.
Toro Rosso had a tough session with Carlos Sainz Jr fifteenth and home favourite Daniil Kvyat seventeenth, respectively after their runs on the ultra-softs.
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