Posted on 14th April 2017
In the second practice session at the Bahrain International circuit today, Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo in a session that saw the drivers perfecting their set ups and seeing where they need to improve before FP3 and Qualifying tomorrow.
During FP2, Sebastian Vettel stated on the team radio that he was struggling with the brakes during the second half of the lap. But early on in what was expected to be a long run to evaluate race performance, Vettel’s car suffered what he called a “complete shutdown” over the radio.
Vettel was initially stuck in fourth gear and without power; he leaned forward to hit the neutral button in front of the cockpit. This then allowed the Ferrari car to freewheel and was able to roll around the final corner before pulling over short of the pit entry after running out of momentum.
He was then given a push by marshals into the pit entry under yellow flags, which meant he could be recovered to the Ferrari pit with just over 35 minutes remaining. Vettel returned to the track shortly afterwards, although he ultimately lost just over 15 minutes of running in the 90-minute session.
Meanwhile Vettel's team mate Kimi Raikkonen had an new engine, MGU-H and turbo fitted after his problem in the first session as Lewis Hamilton couldn't get the space to do a decent qualifying simulation lap. He aborted his first attempt and backed off after a big oversteer moment in Turn 1, and on his second try he ran off the track at Turn 10 after locking up trying to get around Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault.
Hamilton was unhappy with Hulkenberg being in the way while on a slow lap, saying “these drivers are just so dangerous,” over the radio. The stewards will investigate the incident after the session.
Finally, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen suffered a floor problem that interrupted his running and compromised his ultimate pace as McLaren-Honda driver Stoffel Vandoorne had a late start to the session after suffering an MGU-H problem in Friday’s first session,
McLaren opted to change his whole power unit (except for the battery and control electronics) to save time and he was able to get on track shortly after the halfway mark.
But it was Sebastian Vettel who was fastest with a lap time of 1:31.310 ahead of Valtteri Bottas in second place who was 0.041 seconds behind him and ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in third place who was 0.066 seconds behind Vettel.
Kimi Raikkonen finished the session in fourth place ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fifth place, Nico Hulkenberg in sixth place, Felipe Massa in seventh place, Max Verstappen in eighth place, Romain Grosjean in ninth place and Daniil Kvyat who rounded off the top ten finishers.
Kevin Magnussen ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Esteban Ocon in twelfth place, Jolyon Palmer in thirteenth place, Fernando Alonso in fourteenth place and Sergio Perez in fifteenth place.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Lance Stroll ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Marcus Ericcson in seventeenth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in eighteenth place, Pascal Wehrlein in nineteenth place and Stoffel Vandoorne in twentieth place.
The classification of FP2 for the Bahrain GP is as follows:-
1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.31.310
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 0.041s
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.066s
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 0.168s
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.284s
6. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 0.573s
7. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 0.769s
8. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.935s
9. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1.195s
10. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1.397s
11. Kevin Magnussen, Haas Ferrari, 1.544s
12. Esteban Ocon, Force India-Mercedes, 1.565s
13. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1.566s
14. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.587s
15. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 2.009s
16. Lance Stroll, Williams-Mercedes, 2.051s
17. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 2.634s
18. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 2.762s
19. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber-Ferrari, 2.807s
20. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren-Honda, 2.902s
Driving for Pleasure will be covering the Bahrain GP weekend with our practice, qualifying and race reports alongside the latest news.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
