Sebastian Vettel tops the timesheets in FP2 in Austria before problems hit his Ferrari again

This afternoon in Austria, Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets in FP2 ahead of Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen; before yet again problems hit Vettel's Ferrari on the track.

This morning, Vettel had only completed four laps in the morning session due to a mechanical failure and he spent the second part of practice two parked in the garage as well.

In the last 30 minutes of the session, Vettel was ordered to come into the pits after once again his Ferrari was experiencing gearbox problems. Vettel then asked his team via the radio if there was anything that he could do on the track and the team told him no. It would seem that the gearbox problem from FP1 hasn’t been fixed and leaves Ferrari with a lot of work to do before FP3 on Saturday morning.

During the session, we saw Carlos Sainz Jr going off the circuit at Turn 4 after locking up going into the corner and was very lucky not to have hit the barrier in order to continue running in the session. We also saw Pastor Maldonado going off the circuit in Turn 3 after locking up his front tyres but he was able to continue on with the session.

But it was Sebastian Vettel who topped the timesheets despite the problems with his gearbox with a laptime of 1.09.600 ahead of Nico Rosberg who finished in second place 0.011 seconds behind him but was ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in third place who was 0.260 seconds behind his team mate.

Pastor Maldonado finished the session in fourth place ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fifth place, Le Mans winner Nico Hulkenberg in sixth place and Romain Grosjean in seventh place. Max Verstappen continued his FP1 form and was eighth ahead of Felipe Nasr in ninth place and Sergio Perez who rounded off the top ten finishers.

Carlos Sainz Jr ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Daniil Kvyat in twelfth place, Marcus Ericsson in thirteenth place and the Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa finishing the session in fourteenth and fifteenth places.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Fernando Alonso finished the session in sixteenth place ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in seventeenth place, Jenson Button in eighteenth place and ahead of two Manor F1 drivers of Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens who finished the session in nineteenth and twentieth.

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

1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.09.600
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 0.011s
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 0.260s
4. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes, 0.314s
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.537s
6. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 0.560s
7. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes, 0.667s
8. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 0.756s
9. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 0.895s
10. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 0.985s
11. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.031s
12. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull-Renault, 1.086s
13. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.144s
14. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.146s
15. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.411s
16. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.917s
17. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 2.076s
18. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 2.319s
19. Will Stevens, Manor, 2.922s
20. Roberto Merhi, Manor, 3.474s

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa