Hamilton quickest ahead of Magnussen in FP2 at Sochi

Hamilton quickest ahead of Magnussen in FP2 at Sochi

This morning we saw Mercedes picking up where they let off in FP1 and setting the pace in FP2 at the Russian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton fastest ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso.

During the session, we saw the track improving in grip and lap times. In the second half of the session, we saw drivers such as Nico Hulkenberg, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen improving by over 1.5 seconds and beyond.

It would seem even at this early stage that McLaren are the surprise of the first two sessions with strong followings from Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button. Also, Toro Rosso are looking to be looking promising with Daniil Kvyat and Jean-Eric Vergne both in the top 10.

Alongside this, few drivers such as Jean-Eric Vergne, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg going off at Turn 14 while trying to explore the limits of the track but all of the drivers were able to continue with their programmes in FP2.

During the latter stages of the session, Daniel Ricciardo stopped out on track with suspected engine problems which brought out the Red Flag for a few minutes while his RB10 was recovered. But the session was restarted after his RB10 was recovered which saw a few drivers taking to the track in the final few minutes of the session.

It was Lewis Hamilton who was fastest with a lap time of 1.39.630 ahead of Kevin Magnussen who finished in second place 0.864 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso in third place a tenth shy of Magnussen. Nico Rosberg finished the session in fourth place ahead of Valtteri Bottas in fifth place and Jenson Button in sixth place.

Felipe Massa improved from FP1 and ended the session in seventh place ahead of Daniil Kvyat in eighth place, Sebastian Vettel in ninth place and Jean-Eric Vergne who rounds off the top ten finishers of the session.

Kimi Raikkonen ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in twelfth place, Daniel Ricciardo in thirteenth place despite stopping on track and Sergio Perez in fourteenth place. Adrian Sutil finished the session in fifteenth place and finished ahead of the Lotus drivers of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado who finished in sixteenth and seventeenth places.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Esteban Guiterrez ended the session in eighteenth place ahead of Marcus Ericsson in nineteenth place ahead of Max Chilton in twentieth place and Kamui Kobayashi in twenty-first place.

The classification of FP2 at the Russian Grand Prix is as follows below:-

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.39.630
Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 0.864s
Fernando Alonso Ferrari 0.874s
Nico Rosberg Mercedes 0.912s
Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 0.943s
Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1.088s
Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1.101s
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1.478s
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1.766s
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1.901s
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 2.000s
Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 2.047s
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 2.431s
Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 2.460s
Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 2.603s
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 3.262s
Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 3.275s
Esteban Guiterrez Sauber-Ferrari 3.425s
Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 4.505s
Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 4.900s
Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 5.322s

Reporting by Sarah Jones