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Ferrari ahead of Mercedes after FP2

Published on 28 Apr 2017 13:45
4
By: Fergal Walsh

Ferrari ended the second practice session well clear of the two Mercedes' drivers, with Sebastian Vettel setting a time of 1:34.120. His time was almost three tenths faster than teammate Kimi Raikkonen who was P2.

The Mercedes' followed suit but were a long way off the pace suggesting once again that the Silver Arrows struggle to get the softest compound into an optimum working range. Valtteri Bottas was seven-tenths of a second away from Vettel, but ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton who finished fourth.

The two Red Bull's were fifth and sixth, but Max Verstappen's car hit trouble with 20 minutes to go in the session, as his car ground to a halt on track. Nevertheless, his fastest time was good enough for P5, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.

Felipe Massa was only just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, as both men ended Friday practice seventh and eighth respectively. Kevin Magnussen set a decent lap to go P9 and avoided the brake problems suffered by teammate Romain Grosjean, who could only finish fourteenth.

Only half a second separated the two bright pink Force India's with Sergio Perez slotting into tenth and Esteban Ocon into eleventh. Fernando Alonso was twelfth, ahead of Jolyon Palmer in thirteenth.

Toro Rosso driver's Carlos Sainz and home favourite Daniil Kvyat ended the session fifteenth and seventeenth, and they were split by the second McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne, who will take a fifteen place grid penalty for Sunday's Grand Prix.

Pascal Wehrlein was eighteenth, ahead of Lance Stroll in nineteenth and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the timesheets by setting a time that saw him finish his first day of practice in twentieth.

Fergal Walsh

F1Grand Prix Russian - Free practice 2

Sochi Autodrom - 28 April 2017

Driver

Team

Time

Difference

#
1

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari

1:34.120

36
2

Kimi Räikkönen

Ferrari

1:34.383

+0.263

36
3

Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes

1:34.790

+0.670

36
4

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:34.829

+0.709

34
5

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

1:35.540

+1.420

15
6

Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull Racing

1:35.910

+1.790

26
7

Felipe Massa

Williams

1:36.261

+2.141

39
8

Nico Hülkenberg

Renault

1:36.329

+2.209

38
9

Kevin Magnussen

Haas F1

1:36.506

+2.386

31
10

Sergio Perez

Force India

1:36.600

+2.480

38
11

Esteban Ocon

Force India

1:36.654

+2.534

39
12

Fernando Alonso

McLaren

1:36.765

+2.645

27
13

Jolyon Palmer

Renault

1:36.771

+2.651

22
14

Romain Grosjean

Haas F1

1:37.039

+2.919

31
15

Carlos Sainz jr

Toro Rosso

1:37.083

+2.963

36
16

Stoffel Vandoorne

McLaren

1:37.125

+3.005

25
17

Daniil Kvyat

Toro Rosso

1:37.300

+3.180

35
18

Pascal Wehrlein

Sauber

1:37.441

+3.321

30
19

Lance Stroll

Williams

1:37.747

+3.627

36
20

Marcus Ericsson

Sauber

1:37.819

+3.699

29

F1 News Max Verstappen Fernando Alonso Valtteri Bottas Felipe Massa Romain Grosjean Daniel Ricciardo Daniil Kvyat Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel Kimi Räikkönen Marcus Ericsson Sergio Perez Jolyon Palmer Kevin Magnussen Stoffel Vandoorne Pascal Wehrlein Esteban Ocon Lance Stroll McLaren Force India Ferrari Mercedes

Replies (4)

f1fan0101

Posts: 1,804
Mercedes more than likely are holding back something, but 7 tenths is A LOT of time
- + 0
- Apr 28 2017 - 15:51
- mcbhargav
  
  Posts: 1,332
  quite possibly!
  + 0
  
  Apr 28 2017 - 23:51
renaultFanF1

Posts: 80
Mercedes didn't want to burn oil during FP. Good to see Seb and Kimi on the top, but that will probably change in the last round of qualifying. In any case, Ferrari race pace is strong enough for the win.
Hulk once again shows what a capable driver can do, and I expect him to bring his Renault behind big 3 in qualifying
- + 0
- Apr 28 2017 - 16:40
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Do Mercedes use a lot of oil when they run their engines? I was thinking whether the FIA maybe were trying to clamp down on them a bit with next year's regulations.
- + 0
- Apr 28 2017 - 18:53