Sepang, FP2: Hamilton turns up the heat to edge Rosberg

And Vettel beat the Finn in the afternoon

By Franck Drui

30 September 2016 - 09:35
Sepang, FP2: Hamilton turns up the (...)

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the second practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix, edging out championship-leading team-mate Nico Rosberg by just over two tenths of a second.

In the morning session, Rosberg had finished half a second clear of Hamilton, though he had been a step softer in tyre use on his best lap, running with soft compound Pirellis compared with medium tyres for the defending champion.

However, when both drivers bolted on soft compound tyres for performance runs in the afternoon session it was Hamilton who held away, with the Briton beating the German driver by 0.233s.

After finishing fourth behind team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in FP1 Sebastian Vettel beat the Finn in the afternoon, finishing 0.237 clear to take P3 behind the Mercedes. After both drivers finished the first session 1.1s adrift of P1 man Rosberg on the same tyre, there was encouragement for Ferrari in the afternoon with Vettel cutting the deficit by four tenths of a second.

Max Verstappen was fifth fastest, 0.2s adrift of Raikkonen. The Dutchman was the lead Red Bull driver, finishing three tenths of a second clear of eighth-placed Daniel Ricciardo. Verstappen was still almost 1.1s behind Hamilton, however, and though he had taken almost seven tenths of a second out of his morning best, set on medium tyres, the deficit to Mercedes was still significant.

Splitting the Red Bulls were Force India’s Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who enjoyed another good session following his fifth place in the morning.

Force India’s good start to the weekend continued with Nico Hulkenberg ending FP2 in ninth place ahead of the second McLaren of Jenson Button.

By contrast, Williams’ low key start to the weekend went on and after finishing 12th and 18th in the morning, Valtteri Bottas was 13th in the afternoon with team-mate Felipe Massa 15th.

Pos.DriverTeamTimeLaps
01 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:34.944 35
02 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1:35.177 36
03 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:35.605 37
04 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:35.842 31
05 Max Verstappen Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:36.037 29
06 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:36.284 33
07 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:36.296 27
08 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:36.337 30
09 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes 1:36.390 37
10 Jenson Button McLaren Honda 1:36.715 22
11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:36.836 30
12 Jolyon Palmer Renault F1 1:36.940 36
13 Valtteri Bottas Williams Mercedes 1:37.016 37
14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas Ferrari 1:37.048 28
15 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:37.110 19
16 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:37.297 29
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:37.449 28
18 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari 1:37.547 26
19 Kevin Magnussen Renault F1 1:37.664 19
20 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:37.789 25
21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Mercedes 1:37.878 34
22 Esteban Ocon Manor Mercedes 1:37.990 36

Search

Formula 1 news

Pics

Videos