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After an encouraging opening
Friday practice session the Williams Martini team would prepare for the
start of the second ninety minute session. Felipe Massa had been fourth and
Valtteri Massa eighth in the first session in a session that saw some spots
of rain during the session. This session would start dry with Ericsson first
out. The Caterham driver was looking to make up for lost time when he
stopped in the first session. Chilton would be next out followed by Sutil,
and Kobayashi. A 1m:18.198 from Ericsson as Button and Raikkonen headed out. Chilton was now
second as both Torro Rosso cars came out followed by the second McLaren of
Magnussen.
The times would rapidly come down with Sutil going fastest with a 1m:13.627
followed by Chilton and Ericsson. Kobayashi was now second with a 1m:13.923
with both Lotus cars out on the track. The times were fairly slow with
Button down in eighth with a 1m:16.340. Grosjean would go fastest with a
1m:13.131 but Button would also improve with a 1m:11.914 to be quickest
followed by Kvyat and Bianchi. Chilton was currently seventh and had pitted
as Kvyat went fastest with a 1m:11.749 but he was quickly passed by
Raikkonen with a 1m:11.722. Button was on a quick lap going fastest with a
1m:11.403. We now had Alonso, Hulkenberg, and Rosberg out on the track.
Raikkonen would pit while Magnussen would move up to fourth, 1m:11.833.
Felipe would be the first of the Williams cars to come out shortly followed
by Valtteri. Next to go fastest was Alonso with a time of 1m:11.217 as
Magnussen moved up to third with a 1m:11.447. This would become fourth as
Rosberg went second with a 1m:11.279. Hamilton was on a quick lap but would
make an error at Turn eight with the Mercedes driver currently tenth. Alonso
would improve with a 1m:10.899 to be two tenths ahead of Rosberg. Felipe was
now third with a time of 1m:11.140 followed by Magnussen. But Felipe would drop to fourth as Hamilton went second with a
time of 1m:10.841. Valtteri was down in fifteenth but would improve ten
places to be fifth with a 1m:11.213. Hamilton would improve with a 1m:10.525
to be fastest three tenths ahead of team-mate Rosberg. Valtteri was able to
move ahead of Rosberg with a 1m:10.790 to be second and Felipe fifth.
As in the first session drivers were finding Turn one difficult with Perez
running wide as Valtteri pitted. So far only the soft tyre had been used as
Ricciardo moved up to sixth, 1m:11.214. Felipe would also follow Valtteri
into his pit with an hour and six minutes remaining. Vettel would move up to
seventh, 1m:11.275. Hamilton had pitted as Rosberg went fastest in sector
one. Magnussen and Button were eighth and ninth. Perez was now tenth as
Rosberg pitted with his lap time of 1m:10.449 only 0.039 behind Hamilton. Of the top ten only ninth placed Button was out
on the track with the first to come out on the super soft option tyre was
Bianchi joined by Kobayashi and Chilton. An hour remaining and there were
only a handful of drivers out on the track. Bianchi would improve his time
with a 1m:12.279 but Chilton would move ahead with a 1m:12.229 with the pair
sixteenth and seventeenth.
Magnussen was back out also switching to the option tyre. Rosberg was also
out on the softer tyre as Magnussen set a 1m:10.982 to be fifth. Hamilton
would follow Rosberg out on the option tyre followed by Gutierrez,
Raikkonen, and both Williams cars. On his first lap Rosberg would set a
1m:10.399 to be quickest but Hamilton would move ahead with a 1m:09.652 to
be 0.747 ahead of Rosberg. Valtteri was currently third and Felipe sixth as they both were on their first laps
on the option tyre. Felipe would set a 1m:10.521 to be third. Valtteri was
fourth but his lap would not see him move up the order. Alonso would set a
1m:10.470 to be third but 0.8 off Hamilton's time. Button was now sixth
followed by Magnussen, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, and Vettel tenth. Valtteri was
able to find time setting a 1m:10.519 to now be fourth and Felipe dropping
to fifth. Valtteri was just 0.002 ahead of his team-mate as Felipe pitted.
Vettel was on a quicker lap but would not improve as Felipe returned to the
track. Valtteri had previously complained about his up shifts been slow.
Felipe would pit again with forty five minutes remaining. Rosberg had been
able to set a 1m:09.919 to be 0.377 behind Hamilton. The top seven cars had
all pitted with Grosjean running very wide at Turn nine taking to the grass.
Alonso would come back out as Vergne went off at Turn one. Ricciardo was
able to find time with a 1m:10.920 to be eighth. He had gone off at Turn eight but had continued his lap. Tenth
placed Vergne would have a moment at Turn eight but had continued. Hamilton
was back out still on the option tyre with just over thirty minutes
remaining. We also had both McLaren's out on the track as Hamilton pitted
after just one lap. But his stop would be brief coming back out joined by
Rosberg. Hamilton would complete a practice start at the end of the pit
lane.
Valtteri was back out as a few spots of rain started to fall but he would
pit taking on the soft tyre for his next run. Felipe was also back out but
running an opposite strategy running on the option tyre. Vettel was now in
sixth, 1m:10.807 followed by Button, Ricciardo, Magnussen, and Vergne tenth.
Hamilton would go off at Turn eight but was able to continue. Felipe would
also have an off track moment at the same corner also continuing. Alonso
would come back out with just under thirty minutes remaining. Both Valtteri and Felipe were setting times in the 1m:14s
as Hamilton again went off at Turn eight. Alonso had pitted again if only
briefly with Felipe shortly after having a moment at Turn eight. Rosberg had
pitted to change tyres while several other drivers had reverted to the soft
tyre including Vettel, Button, and Vergne. The Williams drivers were now on
longer runs with twenty minutes remaining.
Hamilton was told to pit to swap back to the soft tyre but he would override
his engineer staying out on the option tyre. Hamilton would set a 1m:13.688
with only Rosberg close to his times. Both Valtteri and Felipe had completed
ten laps on their current run. Ricciardo would complain about the gusty
winds affecting the car. Another driver to go off at Turn eight was
Raikkonen but he would be followed by Felipe and Alonso. The track was very
busy with only Kobayashi in his pit. Both Williams drivers were still
setting times in the low to mid 1m:14s laps. Felipe was still ahead of
team-mate Valtteri while Hamilton had aslo switched to the soft tyre. But on
their next lap Valtteri was able to go faster than Felipe. Valtteri was told
that there was rain close to the track with thirteen minutes remaining in
the session. Rosberg would pit briefly as the Williams drivers continued
their combined tyre testing. Hamilton would pit followed by Rosberg with
just under ten minutes remaining.
It was announced that Race Control would not make any further reports about
rivers running wide at Turn eight. The drivers would be told after practice
as to the acceptable limits of the track. Felipe would pit after his long
option tyre run but would also come back out on the soft tyre as the session
drew to a close. Hamilton was now out of the car his session finished still
leading the session. On his slightly newer soft tyre Felipe would be quicker
than Valtteri as they started the final minutes of the session. Several
drivers had been running wide at Turn one including Rosberg, Grosjean, and
Hulkenberg. Both McLaren's had pitted as the session drew to a close. Vettel
would tell his engineer that his tyres were shot ad that he would pit. Both
Williams drivers had pitted as the session ended. The top ten was Hamilton
from Rosberg, Alonso, Valtteri, Felipe, Vettel, Button, Ricciardo,
Magnussen, and Vergne tenth.
For the Williams team it was another strong showing with their drivers
fourth and fifth but the margin to the leader was 0.9 seconds. The split
between the Williams pair was just 0.002 showing how closely matched they
are. But they were only 0.05 behind third placed Alonso. Felipe was able to
complete nineteen laps on the option tyre which is encouraging for the team.
Both drivers would complete their usual practice pit stops at the end of the
session. |
