Europe – Free Practice 2 – Hamilton confirms and Rosberg breaks down in Baku

This morning, it was Lewis Hamilton who set the fastest time in the first free practice session of the European Grand Prix on the new urban track in Baku.

“Who says new track, says some teething problems… indeed, after FP1, the track marshals noticed that the curbs on some corners were coming loose. As a result, the GP2 qualifying session was canceled and work was undertaken so that F1 could run in FP2 without issue.”

Into the wall at the end of FP1, Daniel Ricciardo will be able to participate in this session. His team managed to repair the rear end of his car. His teammate, Max Verstappen, who suffered an oil leak this morning, will also be on track.

The weather has changed significantly since this morning, and a few clouds are raising concerns for a session that starts on time, with many drivers taking to the track, including the two Haas cars, Felipe Nasr’s Sauber, and Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari.

The cloud cover has increased over the Azerbaijani parliament building (and the rest of the city, too) #EuropeGP pic.twitter.com/DK9ImfFDi3

— Sahara Force India (@ForceIndiaF1) 17 juin 2016

At the beginning of the sessions, the first mistakes occur very early for the drivers who have gained confidence in the track and allow themselves to exceed the limits. Thus, we see Vettel and Esteban Gutierrez consecutively make mistakes in corner number 5, and Felipe Massa widely misses the apex at the first corner. Max Verstappen, who barely drove this morning, also goes straight off in corner number 5 before rejoining the track.

In the meantime, the two Force India cars are taking the lead by setting exactly the same time, with Sergio Pérez ahead of Nico Hülkenberg. Carlos Sainz immediately beats this time, but the standings change very quickly and the top teams have not yet brought out their weapons.

After a quarter of an hour into the session, the top four positions feature the four best times from FP1: Hamilton leads Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso, and Valtteri Bottas. The Spaniard seems very comfortable on the Baku track, of which he is the luxury ambassador.

Among the three tire compounds offered this weekend – Medium, Soft, and Super Soft, it was the Soft tires that were most used this morning. For this session, many drivers are therefore using the red-banded Super Soft tires to prepare for tomorrow’s qualifying session. The wear of the tires remains, of course, a major question mark on this new track where getting the tires up to temperature seems difficult to achieve.

Half an hour has already passed in this session, and Nico Rosberg has set the fastest time with 1.44.913. Lap times are improving steadily for the drivers on Super Soft tires. Hülkenberg and Perez climb to 4th and 5th positions, while Button, in 7th, leads Alonso who has slipped to 11th place and is facing an electronic issue with his car. A little earlier, the Spaniard had to unstrap himself in the middle of action to press the neutral button on the hood of his McLaren!

Lewis Hamilton makes a strong impact and takes the best time of the session with 1.44.223, pushing his teammate back by almost 0.7 seconds! The Ferraris and Red Bulls have been very discreet since this morning. Vettel is only 8th, Räikkönen 13th, Verstappen 7th, and Ricciardo 10th. Mercedes’ main rivals leave room for Williams and Force India, both… powered by Mercedes.

The tire strategies of the teams differ depending on the drivers, as exemplified by Renault, who are not putting all their eggs in one basket and send Magnussen and Palmer out on track with two different types of tires. However, the Dane, 17th, and the Briton, 19th, remain far down in the standings.

Just over 30mins left of the session, Jo goes blond, Kev stays red. #FP2 #EuropeGP pic.twitter.com/4ft68GcgwH

— Renault Sport F1 (@RenaultSportF1) 17 juin 2016

With 20 minutes to go, Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes comes to a stop at the side of the track. A gearbox problem seems the most likely issue as it’s well known that the team’s weak point mainly lies in its clutch or gearbox. Now, it’s hard to see who could beat Lewis Hamilton’s best time as the Briton’s lap is far ahead of the competition. Pérez, in 3rd place, is already more than a second behind…

In the last five minutes, Kimi Räikkönen is forced to abandon his car in the first sector after a lock-up on his rear tires. At the same time, Sebastian Vettel is moving slowly on the track, and his team calls him to return to the pit.

The day ends with the best time from Lewis Hamilton, confirming his good performance from the morning.

The complete classification of FP2:

#FP2 PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION: Advantage @MercedesAMGF1 #EuropeGP 🇦🇿 #F1 pic.twitter.com/QJjQlGXRdO

— Formula 1 (@F1) 17 juin 2016