Japan – Free Practice 2: Rosberg confirms against Hamilton, Ferrari in ambush
Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in the second free practice session, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, as in FP1, and the two Ferraris, who seem to be in better spirits than the Red Bulls, even if Max Verstappen is between Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel.
This morning, it was Nico Rosberg who set the fastest time in the first free practice session of this Japanese Grand Prix. The rain doesn’t seem to be threatening the day, but it is expected for tomorrow’s qualifying, and possibly for Sunday’s race.
Romain Grosjean is the first to go out at the beginning of the session. After his small mistake in the morning, the Frenchman has a lot of time to make up for to perfect the setup of a car that’s always difficult to drive, especially on a particularly demanding circuit.
After a few minutes, the first mistake can be attributed to Kevin Magnussen, who misses his braking point at the hairpin and sends his Renault into the gravel. He manages to get out without any issues, but with dirty tires.
This is known as ‘exploring track limits’, ok?#FP2 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/BxsbbHhfnz
— Renault Sport F1 (@RenaultSportF1) 7 octobre 2016
On the stopwatch, the Ferraris take the two best times, with Sebastian Vettel ahead of Kimi Räikkönen. But as soon as the Mercedes drivers take to the track, they automatically grab the two best times, Lewis Hamilton in front of Nico Rosberg. Behind them, the Red Bulls slot in between the Ferraris, with Verstappen ahead of Vettel and Ricciardo doing the same against Räikkönen.
Daniil Kvyat loses his Toro Rosso at the exit of the last chicane. He tears off the DRS zone sign on the outside of the curve, but his spin sends him back in the right direction on the start/finish straight.
After 30 minutes of session, Sebastian Vettel puts on the Soft tires on his car and takes the best time with 1:33.103, more than three-tenths ahead of Hamilton. Rosberg also makes this choice and smashes his best time from this morning with 1:32.250. It’s the point in the session where drivers are going to set a fast time on the Soft compound tire.
That was an AWESOME lap from @nico_rosberg!
WOWZERS!#FP2 #JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Kb7keBIr9S
— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) 7 octobre 2016
Kimi Räikkönen takes second place, two tenths behind Rosberg but half a second ahead of Vettel. Hamilton automatically snatches the Finnish driver’s place by 72 thousandths from his teammate.
Esteban Gutierrez’s Haas is immobilized at the side of the track, and the virtual safety car is deployed to evacuate the Mexican’s car. A yet-to-be-identified mechanical problem is the cause of this stoppage. The streak of bad luck continues for the American team.
At mid-session, the Top 10 ranking is as follows: Rosberg, Hamilton, Räikkönen, Vettel, Perez, Verstappen, Hülkenberg, Alonso, Bottas, and Sainz.
The session resumes its normal course, and long stints are now favored by the drivers. Daniel Ricciardo is only in 12th position, a place that obviously doesn’t reflect the performance of his Red Bull.
Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean makes a mistake at Spoon and complains, as usual and in colorful language, about his brakes…
The session ended without major issues except for some difficulties for Kimi Räikkönen to keep his car on track…
The full ranking of FP2:
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION: ROS on 🔥 in #FP2, RAI keeping Ferrari in touch in P3, 0.323s shy #JapaneseGP 🇯🇵 #F1 pic.twitter.com/1d5uZcsSyP
— Formula 1 (@F1) 7 octobre 2016
