United-states United States GP || October 20 || 14h00 (Local time)

Sepang, FP2: Vettel heads Ferrari 1-2 as Grosjean crash ends session early

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was the day’s surprise package

By Franck Drui

29 September 2017 - 10:41
Sepang, FP2: Vettel heads Ferrari (…)

Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two in second practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, six tenths clear of team-mate Kimi Räikkönen, as the session was ended early by a heavy crash involving Haas’ Romain Grosjean.

Vettel’s performance run on the Pirelli supersoft compound tyres netted a best time of 1:31.261. Team-mate Kimi Räikkönen was second, 0.604 seconds adrift, while Daniel Ricciardo was third for Red Bull Racing, just over two tenths further back.

It was a trickier session for championship leader Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. Both has off-track excursions that led to Hamilton ending the day in sixth place with Bottas just over a tenth of a second further back in seventh place.

There was a more destructive excursion late in the session, with Romain Grosjean crashing heavily.

A dislodged drain cover between Turns 12 and 13 sliced through the Frenchman’s right rear tyre and he careered off track and into the barriers. The Haas driver emerged unscathed from the crash. The session was immediately red-flagged, while an FIA inspection took place and it was decided that no further running would take place.

During the session, Max Verstappen was the first driver to run a qualifying simulation, using the supersoft Pirellis to rise to P2 behind soft-tyre pacesetter Vettel.

Ricciardo then went quickest on the super-softs with a time of 1:32.099s, but his time as the top was short-lived as Raikkonen and the Vettel went quicker still.

With Ricciardo third, Verstappen was left to take fourth spot, with the Dutchman finishing just one hundredth of a second behind his Red Bull team-mate.

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was the day’s surprise package, with the Spaniard claiming fifth spot ahead of the two Mercedes, with a best time of 1:32,564, 1.3 seconds off Vettel’s pace.

Force India’s Sergio Perez finished in eighth place behind the Mercedes, with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg ninth ahead of the second Force India of Esteban Ocon.

Pos.DriverTeamTimeLaps
01 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:31.261 23
02 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:31.865 19
03 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:32.099 19
04 Max Verstappen Red Bull Tag Heuer 1:32.109 11
05 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:32.564 14
06 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG 1:32.677 15
07 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes AMG 1:32.720 21
08 Sergio Pérez Force India Mercedes 1:32.862 20
09 Nico Hulkenberg Renault F1 1:33.060 24
10 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:33.096 24
11 Jolyon Palmer Renault F1 1:33.381 26
12 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:33.394 20
13 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1:33.673 15
14 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:33.818 16
15 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso Renault 1:34.043 22
16 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso Renault 1:34.104 19
17 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:34.118 18
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:34.343 17
19 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 1:35.246 29
20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:35.697 27

Search

Formula 1 news

Pics

Videos