Posted on 11th November 2016
In the second practice session at the Interlagos circuit yesterday, Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets ahead of Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas in a session that saw the drivers perfecting their set ups and seeing where they need to improve before FP3 and Qualifying.
During the early part of FP2, Carlos Sainz Jr went wheel-to-wheel with Raikkonen through the infield early in the session, with the latter then cutting across the Toro Rosso on the main straight as he dived for the pits. The stewards will investigate the incident after the session.
But Romain Grosjean had a frustrating afternoon, complaining of having no power and then reporting that “something is wrong, very strange” as he went through Turn 1.
And finally during FP2, Fernando Alonso had his session ending prematurely when he was told to stop on track because the team had found a data anomaly in the ERS water pressure. Alonso was restricted to just 18 laps.
But rather than heading back to the garage, Alonso took control of one of the trackside cameras, with some of the footage being used in the FOM broadcast. This came exactly a year after he sat in a deckchair after his McLaren ground to a halt in Q1, with the pictures creating a social media sensation.
But it was Lewis Hamilton who was fastest with a lap time of 1:12.271 ahead of Nico Rosberg in second place who was 0.030 seconds behind him and ahead of Valtteri Bottas in third place who was 0.490 seconds behind Hamilton
Felipe Massa finished the session in fourth place ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in fifth place, Max Verstappen in sixth place, Sebastian Vettel in seventh place, Kimi Raikkonen in eighth place, Nico Hulkenberg in ninth place and Jenson Button who rounded off the top ten finishers.
Fernando Alonso ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Daniil Kvyat in twelfth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in thirteenth place, Sergio Perez in fourteenth place and Romain Grosjean in fifteenth place.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Kevin Magnussen ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Felipe Nasr in seventeenth place, Esteban Ocon in eighteenth place, Jolyon Palmer in nineteenth place, Esteban Gutierrez in twentieth place, Marcus Ericsson in twenty-first place and Pascal Wehrlein in twenty-second place.
The classification of FP2 for the Brazilian GP is as follows:-
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.12.271
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 0.030s
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 0.490s
4. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 0.518s
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.557s
6. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.657s
7. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 0.731s
8. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 0.776s
9. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.028s
10. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1.169s
11. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.301s
12. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1.418s
13. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.530s
14. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1.647s
15. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1.803s
16. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1.838s
17. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 2.038s
18. Esteban Ocon, MRT Racing, 2.046s
19. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 2.165s
20. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 2.287s
21. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 2.424s
22. Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 2.867s
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
