Hamilton once again setting the pace in FP2 at Abu Dhabi

Hamilton once again setting the pace in FP2 at Abu Dhabi

This afternoon we saw championship leader Lewis Hamilton setting the pace in FP1 in Abu Dhabi ahead of his team mate and championship rival Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso who was third fastest.

Before the start of the session, Lotus driver Romain Grosjean is handed a twenty place grid penalty for changing his engine for the sixth time this season. This then means that Grosjean will have to start from the pitlane on Sunday for the race.

However, it was announced by the stewards in a statement the following time penalties would be imposed upon Grosjean this weekend:-

'Any remaining grid positions will be taken in the form of a time penalty during the race in accordance with the following:-

1-5 5 second time penalty
6-10 10 second time penalty
11-20 Drive through penalty
Over 20 10 second stop and go penalty'

Many pundits and fans have questioned via social media why Grosjean has been given this 20 grid penalty for taking a sixth engine change this weekend in Abu Dhabi when usually it is only a 10 place grid penalty. But the only reason I can think of is that because it is double points this weekend, maybe its double the penalty? But like everyone else, I feel it is a bit unfair on Grosjean and the penalty is a bit too much but just like Lotus and Grosjean, we have to respect the decision of the FIA, stewards and also the regulations that govern the sport.

During the session, we saw Jenson Button in the first half of the session not taking part in the session after experiencing problems with the rear suspension in FP1 to find a hydraulic issue on his car in FP2. However, Button was able to take part in the second half of the session and finished in eighth despite everything that he has encountered.

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso stopped on the circuit during the early part of the session at Turn 19 during the session with an electrical failure that lead to his gearbox failing and his engine losing all power.

With the spotlight firmly on Alonso's future in Formula One at the moment, this will not help him end his career with Ferrari in the manner that he would have liked.

We also saw during the session Sauber driver Adrian Sutil going off the track with a suspected brake failure that the Sauber team needed to fix. Alongside this, we saw Pastor Maldonado going off the track at Turn 8 and also Valtteri Bottas going off the circuit at the same corner but both drivers were able to continue on during the session.

At the end of the session, once again all of the drivers will be testing another virtual Safety Car method. The FIA have created a “slow down” area where the drivers will have to slow down to 80kmph and will have to stick to that speed until the FIA are satisfied that they have slowed down enough.

But it was Lewis Hamilton who topped the timesheets with a lap time of 1.42.113 ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg who was 0.083 seconds behind him. Kevin Magnussen was third fastest in the session and was 0.782 seconds behind the Mercedes drivers.

Sebastian Vettel finished the session in fourth place ahead of Valtteri Bottas in fifth place, Daniel Ricciardo in sixth place who finished ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in seventh place. Jenson Button ended the session in eighth place despite his problems with his hydraulics ahead of Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat in ninth and Felipe Massa who rounded off the top ten finishers.

Sergio Perez ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Pastor Maldonado in twelfth place, Nico Hulkenberg in thirteenth place and Jean-Eric Vergne in fourteenth place. Esteban Gutierrez finished the session in fifteenth place ahead of his team mate Adrian Sutil who finished the session in sixteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the session, Romain Grosjean finished the session in seventeenth place ahead of Kamui Kobayashi in eighteenth place ahead of his team mate Will Stevens in nineteenth place who improved from FP2 by over two seconds.

Fernando Alonso did not take part in the session due to an electrical failure that led to a loss of power and this in turn affected his gearbox and had to no choice but to sit out of the remainder of the session this afternoon.

The classification of FP2 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is as follows below:-

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.42.113
Nico Rosberg Mercedes 0.083s
Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 0.782s
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 0.846s
Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 0.957s
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1.070s
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1.376s
Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1.390s
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1.433s
Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1.445s
Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1.633s
Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1.892s
Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1.955s
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 2.044s
Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 2.203s
Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 2.650s
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 2.873s
Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 3.392s
Will Stevens Caterham-Renault 4.944s
Fernando Alonso Ferrari No Time

Sarah Jones