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In the second practice session at the Sochi Autodrome circuit today, Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets ahead of Kimi Raikkonen 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 tomorrow.
During FP2, Sebastian Vettel reported an “engine hesitation” on his outlap and after a conservative first flying lap, put the hammer down on the second to go 0.263 seconds quicker than his team mate Kimi Raikkonen.
It was a scrappy session for the Mercedes team and their drivers as both drivers struggled to get their Pirelli tyres into the right operating window, their quickest times coming several laps into the run.
However during the session Max Verstappen’s session ended 20 minutes early when he parked at the side of the track and reported he was “out of power”. But things were to set to be worse for Stoffel Vandoorne as he is set to start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid after the team changed the entire Honda engine ahead of FP2 following more problems on Friday morning and has earnt himself a 15 place grid penalty.
But it was Sebastian Vettel who was fastest with a lap time of 1:34.120 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in second place who was 0.263 seconds behind him and ahead of Valtteri Bottas in third place who was 0.670 seconds behind Vettel.
Lewis Hamilton finished the session in fourth place ahead of Max Verstappen in fifth place, Daniel Ricciardo in sixth place, Felipe Massa in seventh place, Nico Hulkenberg in eighth place, Kevin Magnussen in ninth place and Sergio Perez who rounded off the top ten finishers.
Esteban Ocon ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Fernando Alonso in twelfth place, Jolyon Palmer in thirteenth place, Romain Grosjean in fourteenth place and Carlos Sainz Jr in fifteenth place.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Stoffel Vandoorne ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Daniil Kvyat in seventeenth place, Pascal Wehrlein in eighteenth place, Lance Stroll in nineteenth place and Marcus Ericsson in twentieth place.
The classification of FP2 for the Russian GP is as follows:–
1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.34.120
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 0.263s
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 0.670s
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.709s
5. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.420s
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.790s
7. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 2.141s
8. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 2.209s
9. Kevin Magnussen, Haas Ferrari, 2.386s
10. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 2.480s
11. Esteban Ocon, Force India-Mercedes, 2.534s
12. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 2.645s
13. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 2.651s
14. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 2.919s
15. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 2.963s
16. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren-Honda, 3.005s
17. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 3.180s
18. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.321s
19. Lance Stroll, Williams-Mercedes, 3.627s
20. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.699s
Driving for Pleasure will be covering the Russian GP weekend with our practice, qualifying and race reports alongside the latest news.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
