Baku, FP2: Hamilton maintains control in Azerbaijan

After running fastest in opening practice for the Grand Prix of Europe, Lewis Hamilton continued to dominate the time sheets at the Baku Street Circuit, finishing 0.7s ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg who was forced to stop early with a gearbox issue.

Rosberg was on a long run when he reported that he had lost drive in fourth gear and he was immediately told to “stop the car” by his Mercedes.

Hamilton, though was already well ahead of the title leader, with the Briton setting a time of 1:44.223 in the late afternoon, compared with a best lap of 1:44.913 from Rosberg.

The second session begun on time despite some issues with kerbs causing tyre damage earlier in the day. Drivers were advised to avoid using the kerb at Turn 6 and no issues were reported during the session.

The Mercedes pairing were the only drivers to dip below the 1m45s mark, with the Mercedes-powered Force India of Sergio Perez in third place. The Mexican driver took over P3 from the similarly Mercedes-powered Valtteri Bottas of Williams who got closest to the works Mercedes in the first session.

Fifth place in the session went to the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg, while Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz was the first non-Mercedes powered car in the top 10, though his sixth-place time of 1:46.027 was almost 1.8s adrift of Hamilton’s benchmark.

Sainz was followed by Max Verstappen of sister squad Red Bull Racing, who finished ahead of Sebastian Vettel who finished the session with a time of 1:46.219, again almost two seconds off the pace.

Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen had a troubled afternoon with the Finn going straight on at Turn 4 where he stopped and climbed out of his car. Raikkonen ended the session in P13.

Vettel also had an issue late in the session, with the four-time champion being told to slow down and return to the pits. Both drivers suffered an issue with the MGU-K.

After McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button finished fourth and seventh respectively in the opening session, Button continued the Honda-powered outfits good form by claiming P9 in the second session.

Rounding out the top 10 was Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo whose team managed to repair the damage caused to the right rear of his car in an FP1 crash in time for the start of the second session.