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The opening Friday practice for
the 2014 Russian Grand Prix would see the Williams Martini team place their
drivers tenth and eleventh with Valtteri Bottas leading team-mate Felipe
Massa. Now it was the second session and with the start of the session
Valtteri was out trying to make up for lost track time in the earlier
session. With the initial runs we would see Button fastest with a 1m:41.928.
Valtteri had improved to be second with a time of 1m:42.669, completing five
laps prior to pitting. But Hamilton would move into second with a 1m:42.333.
Valtteri was now third followed by Magnussen, Vettel, Kvyat, Hulkenberg,
Perez, Vergne and Maldonado tenth. The second Williams of Felipe was still
in his pit having yet to take to the track. Felipe was in his car but had yet to come out with fifteen minutes of the session
run.
But he would eventually come out for his first run while Valtteri had
pitted. Rosberg was out and would go fastest with a 1m:41.882 but team-mate
Hamilton would move ahead with a 1m:41.750. Button was now third followed by
Valtteri, Magnussen, Alonso, Perez, and Vettel in eighth. Felipe still had
yet to set a time but his first lap was a 1m:43.067 to be eighth. Kvyat
would move up to fourth with a 1m:42.558 as Rosberg moved ahead of Hamilton
with a 1m:41.508. Button was now third but Alonso was now up to fourth with
a 1m:42.527. Valtteri was now sixth and Felipe ninth. Hamilton had being on
a quick lap but failed to improve remaining second. Felipe would also
improve setting a 1m:42.530 to be fifth.
Valtteri was back out again as both Mercedes cars pitted. Vettel was down in
eleventh and Ricciardo twelfth. Raikkonen was currently slowest as Valtteri
moved into seventh with a 1m:42.669. Button was on a quick also and would
set a 1m:41.750 but remained third. Vergne was now in fourth with a
1m:42.238 as Felipe pitted briefly. Felipe and Valtteri were now sixth and
eighth with an hour remaining in the session. Felipe would pit followed by
Valtteri shortly after. The track now only had a handful of cars running one
being Valtteri whose pit stop had been brief. But he would pit again joining
Felipe back in his pit. Drivers started to come back out this time on the
soft option tyre. Both Sauber cars were on the soft tyre joined by
Hulkenberg. Even with the use of the softer tyre Gutierrez could only manage
a 1m:43.424 to be only twelfth. This was still an improvement of seven
tenths over his medium tyre lap.
But Hulkenberg was able to find more time moving up to fourth with a time of
1m:41.969, a gain of 1.6 seconds. Raikkonen was out on the softer tyre while
for Williams Felipe was now out on the soft tyre. Gutierrez had improved his
time with a 1m:43.055 but remained twelfth. Button and Rosberg were now also
out on the option tyre as Sutil moved up to fifth with a1m:42.233 only to
see Raikkonen take this spot with a time of 1m:41.969. Hulkenberg was able
to find further time moving into second with a 1m:41.677. Hamilton was out
on the option tyre as Valtteri also came out for his option tyre run.
Ricciardo would move up to tenth with a 1m:42.543 running on the softer
tyre. Felipe was on a quick lap moving up to sixth with a 1m:42.198. Rosberg
would go fastest in the first two sectors as Button set a 1m:41.196 to be
quickest. But Rosberg would complete his lap going fastest in the final
sector finishing with a 1m:41.027 to again be quickest.
Magnussen was now in second with a 1m:41.065 followed by Button and
Hamilton. Valtteri was now fifth with a 1m:41.543 on his option tyre run.
Felipe had dropped to be tenth but was on an improved lap. Alonso was still
on the medium tyre and would improve his time with a 1m:41.985 to be eighth.
Button would go fastest in the first two sectors as Felipe improved with a
1m:41.722 to be seventh. Button would finish with a 1m:40.718 to be quickest
but Rosberg would go even faster with a 1m:40.596. Hamilton was on a quick
lap setting a new first sector quickest time. Now it was Magnussen who would
go fastest with a 1qm:40.494 but Hamilton would complete his lap going
quickest with a 1m:39.817, to be quickest by 0.677 over Magnussen. Both
McLaren's had pitted as Raikkonen moved into sixth, 1m:41.630. Felipe would
aso find time setting a 1m:40.959 to be fifth with Valtteri now sixth.
Valtteri would set a 1m:41.388 but remained sixth. Hamilton would also find
time setting a 1m:39.630 having gone quicker in the first two sectors.
Felipe was on an improved lap still running on the option tyre, finishing
with a 1m:40.731 but would remain fifth. He was six tenths ahead of his
team-mate with just over thirty minutes remaining. Valtteri was also able to
find time after several laps on the option tyre. He would finish with a
1m:40.573 to be fourth. Felipe was now sixth and had pitted with the order
now Hamilton followed by Magnussen, Rosberg, Valtteri, Button, Felipe,
Kvyat, Vergne, Raikkonen, and Hulkenberg tenth. Both McLaren's were back out
as Valtteri pitted. Alonso would improve with a 1m:41.404 on his soft tyre
run but this would see him only eighth. Ricciardo and Vettel were twelfth
and seventeenth with twenty six minutes remaining. Rosberg would come back
out as Valtteri pitted. Felipe was back out as Alonso moved up to seventh
with a 1m:40.889.
With twenty minutes remaining there were only a few cars still in their pits
with drivers on longer runs on the option tyre. Valtteri would pit briefly
as Alonso moved up to third with a 1m:40.504. Felipe would also make a short
pit stop seeing Ericsson the only driver now in the pits. But Alonso would
also come in while for Williams Valtteri was now fifth and Felipe seventh. Ericsson would come
out with fifteen minutes remaining. On their longer runs on the soft tyre
drivers were setting times in the 1m:44sFelipe and Valtteri were running
opposite tyre programmes with Felipe on the medium tyre and Valtteri the
soft. Both Alonso and Button would make quick pit stops. Button was back out
on the medium tyre with several other drivers also running on this tyre. The
session would be red flagged when Ricciardo would stop his car out on the
track in a location that was seen as dangerous. The track would empty as
Ricciardo's car was recovered and put back behind the barriers.
The session would restart with just a few minutes remaining with quite a few
drivers coming back out including both Williams cars. Raikkonen remained in
his pit as the session came to a close. There was no change in the order was
drivers started to return to the pit lane. Hamilton was fastest from
Magnussen, Alonso, Rosberg, Valtteri, Button, Felipe, Kvyat, Vettel, and
Vergne in tenth. For the Williams team being in fifth and seventh was again
encouraging as well as the fact that Valtteri was able to set some very
competitive times on his soft tyre longer run. |
