Hamilton sets the pace in an action-packed FP2 in Suzuka

Hamilton sets the pace in an action-packed FP2 in Suzuka

This morning we saw Mercedes setting the pace in the second practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton fastest ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas.

In an action-packed session, we saw a few drivers making contact with the barriers as they try and fine-tune the set ups on their cars to be as competitive as they can be during the course of the weekend and leaving their respective teams with a lot of work overnight to be ready for FP3 on Saturday.

The first incident we saw in the early part of the session was Kamui Kobayashi making contact with the barriers at Turn 2 after taking too much speed into the corner while also loosing the rear end of his CT05. This then ended Kobayashi's running in the session.

After missing FP1, trouble struck Jean-Eric Vergne who just like Max Verstappen earlier in the morning stops at Turn 7 with suspected engine troubles. But Toro Rosso were able to fix the problem on Vergne's car. However, in the last few minutes of the session, Vergne lost all his electronics and had to stop on the circuit. This then brought out the red flag for a second time and the session ended. But despite all the troubles that Vergne experienced, he finished the session in eleventh place.

In a rare mistake from the Red Bull driver, Daniel Ricciardo into Turn 18 made contact with the barriers after losing the rear end of his RB10. Ricciardo on team radio shortly after announced that he was okay after the incident. In order to recover the car back to the pitlane, the red flag was brought out in order for the marshals to do so but within ten minutes, the session was back running again.

After the session was restarted, we saw Sauber driver Esteban Guiterrez making heavy contact with the barriers into the entry heading towards Spoon Corner. Guiterrez announced that he was okay but this leaves Sauber with a lot of work to so to be ready for FP3 tomorrow.

But Hamilton, who is looking to retain the World Championship lead in Singapore two weeks ago, was fastest with a 1.35.078, even if Hamilton himself had a moment coming out of the Degner Corner but was able to hold it together. Hamilton ended the session 0.240s faster than his team mate Rosberg who was ahead of Valtteri Bottas in third place 1.257s behind them the Mercedes pair.

Jenson Button finished the session in fourth place ahead of Sebastian Vettel in fifth place, Kimi Raikkonen in sixth place and Fernando Alonso in seventh place. Kevin Magnussen ended the session in eighth place ahead of Daniil Kvyat in ninth place and Daniel Ricciardo finished the session in tenth place after his crash earlier on in the session.

Despite his troubles in the latter stages of the session, Jean-Eric Vergne finished in eleventh place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in twelfth place, Romain Grosjean in thirteenth place and Felipe Massa who finished the session in fourteenth place.

Sergio Perez finished the session in fifteenth place despite suffering with gearbox troubles throughout the session and was ahead of Pastor Maldonado in sixteenth place who has received a 10 place grid penalty after changing his engine before the start of FP2. But this still left Maldonado ahead of Adrian Sutil in seventeenth place and Esteban Guitererz in eighteenth place after his incident with the barrier during the session.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Marcus Ericsson once again out qualifies his team mate and the two Marussia drivers and finishes in nineteenth place ahead of Jules Bianchi in twentieth place, Max Chilton in twenty-first place and Kamui Kobayashi in twenty-second place.

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

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.35.078
Nico Rosberg Mercedes 0.240s
Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1.207s
Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1.331s
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1.558s
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1.487s
Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1.559s
Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1.636s
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1.865s
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 2.108s
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 2.141s
Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 2.426s
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 2.485s
Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 2.622s
Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 2.708s
Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 2.720s
Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 2.932s
Esteban Guiterrez Sauber-Ferrari 3.287s
Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 3.991s
Jules Bianachi Marussia-Ferrari 4.228s
Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 4.255s
Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 7.682s