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Russian GP Practice Two: Sebastian Vettel heads dominant Ferrari 1-2

Vettel leads Raikkonen on timesheet as Mercedes fail to fly on ultrasofts; Verstappen's Red Bull stops with loss of power

Ferrari outpaced Mercedes by more than half a second in Russian GP Practice Two as the championship leaders showed an impressive turn of speed in Sochi.

The world champions have dominated the Russian race since its inception in 2014 but Sebastian Vettel's pacesetting Friday lap of 1:34.120 was 0.670s faster than the quickest Mercedes could manage.

With P1 pacesetter Kimi Raikkonen forming a Ferrari one-two, Valtteri Bottas took third in the lead Mercedes as he outpaced Lewis Hamilton for the second consecutive session.

The unusually large gap between Ferrari and Mercedes could be particularly explained by the fact both Bottas and Hamilton took several laps to set times on the ultrasoft compound, on which all the quickest times were set on.

Hamilton ran wide at Turn Four on his first effort, before backing off on his next run, and ended up 0.039s adrift of Bottas.

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Former world champion Damon Hill believes this season's drivers' race could help define the careers of both Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

On a circuit they are not expecting to suit their car, Red Bull were even further adrift and also ran into reliability problems when Max Verstappen stopped on track reporting a loss of power on the long runs.

The Dutchman stayed fifth on the timesheet, 1.4 seconds slower than Ferrari, with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo three tenths further back.

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Felipe Massa was sixth for Williams, ahead of Renault's Nico Hulkenberg and Haas's Kevin Magnussen.

McLaren went into the session on the back of a fresh setback after it was confirmed Stoffel Vandoorne would take a 15-place grid penalty ahead of Sunday's race for exceeding engine element limits. But the team nonetheless enjoyed a reasonably solid P2 with Fernando Alonso finishing 12th, within a handful of tenths of the lead midfield runners.

Vandoorne, who has been plagued by unreliability since the start of the season, took to the track after the first 20 minutes of running and finished 16th, three tenths back on Alonso.

Qualifying takes place at 1pm UK time on Saturday live on Sky Sports F1, with final practice underway from 10am.

Russian GP Practice Two Timesheet
1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:34.120
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, +0.263
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, +0.670
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +0.709
5. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +1.420
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, +1.790
7. Felipe Massa, Williams, +2.141
8. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, +2.209
9. Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +2.386
10. Sergio Perez, Force India, +2.480
11. Esteban Ocon, Force India, +2.534
12. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, +2.645
13. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, +2.651
14. Romain Grosjean, Haas, +2.919
15. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, +2.963
16. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, +3.005
17. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, +3.180
18. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, +3.321
19. Lance Stroll, Williams, +3.627
20. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, +3.699

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Will Ferrari stay ahead of the pack in Sochi? Watch the Russian GP weekend with Sky Sports F1. The race begins at 1pm on Sunday. Check out all the ways to watch live F1 on Sky Sports for subscribers and non-subscribers - including a NOW TV day pass for £6.99!

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