Kimi Raikkonen leads a Ferrari 1-2 in FP2 in Shanghai

In the second practice session in Shanghai, Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen topped the timesheets ahead of his team mate Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg; showing that Ferrari cannot be discounted from challenging Mercedes at the front.

After a morning session made disjointed by two red flags, second practice at Shanghai proved to be a smoother affair.

Rosberg, who suffered an ignition problem right at the end of practice one, was the first of the frontrunners to bolt on the super-softs and set the early pace but he was subsequently deposed by Vettel before Raikkonen went quickest.

Attention then turned to long runs in preparation for Sunday’s race, with Mercedes splitting its strategy by putting Rosberg on the softs and Hamilton on the mediums.

But it was yet another frustrating session for Haas driver Esteban Gutierrez, who suffered electrical problems in first practice and then was confined to the garage for most of second practice after his rear brakes caught fire.

But it was Kimi Raikkonen who was fastest with a lap time of 1.36.896 ahead of his team mate Sebastian Vettel in second place who was 0.109 seconds behind him and ahead of Nico Rosberg in third place who was 0.237 seconds behind Raikkonen.

Lewis Hamilton finished the session in fourth place ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in fifth place, Max Verstappen in sixth place, Nico Hulkenberg in seventh place, Carlos Sainz Jr in eighth place, Sergio Perez in ninth place and Valtteri Bottas who rounded off the top ten finishers.
Fernando Alosno ended the session in eleventh place ahead of his team mate Jenson Button in twelfth place, Daniil Kvyat in thirteenth place, Felipe Massa in fourteenth place and Jolyon Palmer in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Romain Grosjean ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Pascal Wehrlein in seventeenth place, Marcus Ericsson in eighteenth place, Rio Haryanto in nineteenth place, Felipe Nasr in twentieth place and Esteban Gutierrez in twenty-first place.

Kevin Magnussen did not take part in the session as Renault continued its investigation into the issues he suffered in the opening session that resulted in a dramatic failure on the left rear of his car.

The classification of FP2 for the Chinese GP is as follows:-

1. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.36.896
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 0.109s
3. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 0.237s
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.433s
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 1.247s
6. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1.372s
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.631s
8. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.646s
9. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1.673s
10. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.827s
11. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.832s
12. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1.932s
13. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Renault, 2.282s
14. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 2.318s
15. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 2.878s
16. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 2.994s
17. Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 3.045s
18. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.083s
19. Rio Haryanto, MRT Racing, 3.654s
20. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 4.170s
21. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 6.058s
22. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, Not classified

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa