China – FP2: Hamilton still leads ahead of Räikkönen and Ricciardo

The second session begins with higher temperatures, with about forty degrees on the track.

The start of the session is marked by Sebastian Vettel’s spin when re-accelerating in the first sector. Although he briefly touches the gravel, he escapes without too much apparent damage. Kimi Räikkönen, meanwhile, complains of braking issues even though his team explains they don’t see anything unusual in the telemetry. Nico Rosberg takes the lead with 1:39.126, before Lewis Hamilton snatches it by a few hundredths ten minutes later. Soon after, an individual crosses the pit straight between two cars; he is later escorted out by Chinese security officials. On the Red Bull side, after half an hour, still no cars have taken to the track. Worse, both are under intervention.

Räikkönen is the first driver to switch to soft tires (yellow). The Finn is, before this lap, one second behind the Mercedes cars. He clocks 1:37.662, which is 1.3 seconds better than Hamilton. With the same tires, Vettel falls short by six-tenths compared to his teammate, while Rosberg goes too wide in the last turn and lags seven-tenths behind. Hamilton, on the other hand, improves the best time by four-tenths and temporarily takes the lead just moments before an off-track incident involving no major damage except a broken front wing on the left side of Felipe Massa’s car during the braking at the last hairpin, causing a red flag, with the Brazilian leaving his cockpit.

The session resumes with 45 minutes remaining. Long runs have begun while wedding photos are being taken in the stands. Räikkönen’s long runs suggest that the Scuderia might still be able to put pressure on the Mercedes. On the Red Bull side, Kvyat goes through the pits after a stint but comes out with a plume of smoke coming from his left rear wheel; the brake disc seems to be on fire. The Russian is going slow throughout the lap, but a complete brake system failure sends him straight into the tire wall where he loses his front wing.

Nice little sequence with less than ten minutes before the end of the session as Räikkönen and Rosberg engage in a small on-track battle, which turns to the advantage of the visibly faster German. A few minutes later, the German finds himself just behind Vettel and overtakes him on the long straight. At the end of this session, Lewis Hamilton is once again in the lead, ahead of Kimi Räikkönen and Daniel Ricciardo.

2015 Chinese Grand Prix – Free Practice 2