Top three split by six hundredths of a second; Hamilton fifth after hitting traffic on qualy practice; Vandoorne and Sainz break down
Saturday 15 April 2017 16:10, UK
Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets again in Practice Two for the Bahrain GP but Ferrari suffered more reliability problems in the desert.
After setting the pace in P1, Vettel clocked a 1:31.310 to finish ahead of Valtteri Bottas' Mercedes and Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull - the top three split by just six hundredths of a second.
But the German ground to a halt just before the pit lane with an electrical problem which caused a "complete shutdown" of his car. While Ferrari were able to quickly fix the issue and get Vettel back on track, it will be a concern for the remainder of the weekend after Kimi Raikkonen broke down in Practice One.
"I think Red Bull looked stronger earlier today but we were just lucky to recover after our issue. Overall it was OK but we can improve," Vettel said.
Raikkonen was fourth in the sister Ferrari, ahead of joint-championship leader Lewis Hamilton who hit traffic during his practice qualifying runs and was two tenths of a second off the pace.
The Briton had to swerve round a slowing Nico Hulkenberg and complained "these drivers are just so dangerous" over team radio. The Renault driver, who finished sixth, was investigated by the stewards after the session but no further action was taken.
McLaren-Honda ran into more reliability problems with Stoffel Vandoorne's session being brought to another premature end by a power unit issue while Carlos Sainz's Toro Rosso also stopped on track.
Max Verstappen was eighth in the second Red Bull, behind Williams' Felipe Massa, but his track time was limited after damaging his RB13 driving over the T-wing which had come off Bottas' car.
Haas' Romain Grosjean and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat rounded off the top 10. Jolyon Palmer was a second off team-mate Hulkenberg in 13th, narrowly ahead of Fernando Alonso.
Practice Three takes place at 1pm BST on Saturday with qualifying following at 4pm, both live on Sky Sports F1.
Bahrain GP Practice Two Timesheet
1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:31.310
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, +0.041
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, +0.066
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, +0.168
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +0.284
6. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, +0.573
7. Felipe Massa, Williams, +0.769
8. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +0.935
9. Romain Grosjean, Haas, +1.195
10. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, +1.397
11. Kevin Magnussen, Haas, + 1.544
12. Esteban Ocon, Force India, +1.565
13. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, +1.566
14. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, + 1.587
15. Sergio Perez, Force India, +2.009
16. Lance Stroll, Williams, +2.051
17. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, +2.634
18. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, +2.762
19. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, +2.807
20. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, +2.920
All times set on supersoft tyre bar Sainz and Vandoorne on soft tyre.
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