Spanish GP P2: Lewis Hamilton heads Sebastian Vettel
World champion 0.408s faster with Nico Rosberg third from Kimi Raikkonen;
Tuesday 12 May 2015 13:59, UK
Lewis Hamilton was fastest in second practice for the Spanish GP on Friday afternoon from Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg.
The world champion lapped the 4.655km Circuit de Catalunya in a time of 1:26.852 to go 0.408s faster than Vettel, with Rosberg about 0.8s off his team-mate's pace. Kimi Raikkonen was fourth fastest, meanwhile, as Ferrari once again emerged as Mercedes' closest challenger.
Whether the Scuderia's challenge might be enhanced by the new developments they've brought this weekend remains in the balance, with the gaps between the silver and red cars appearing - more or less - the same as they were last time out in Bahrain, although Rosberg reported gearbox problems around the time of his qualifying practice run.
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The status quo also appeared to be in place when the cars embarked upon their race simulations in the last half-hour of the session, with Hamilton consistently lapping in the low 1:31s bracket on medium tyres before their performance started to drop off. The Ferraris, meanwhile, looked good on the prime.
“It’s been okay," Hamilton told Sky F1 afterwards. "It’s been a fairly decent day, no problems really. We’ve just been working on the set up. It’s quite windy today so the car’s been affected by that, but otherwise it’s been good.”
Asked whether Ferrari could challenge this weekend, Vettel replied: “I think we can improve the car, yes. I think the gap was four-tenths, and a bit more if you look at the whole day.
“I haven’t seen the long runs but I guess the gap is still there. That’s the bad news for us.”
Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull was fifth fastest, but team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was on the receiving end of yet more engine-related woe after a change forced him to miss most of the session. It could have been worse for the Australian - the engine that blew was not the fourth his spectacular failure in Bahrain has now forced him to use - with team boss Christian Horner telling Sky F1 that they're hoping it will last for the remainder of this weekend as well as the Monaco GP. A grid penalty will follow.
Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen was sixth fastest and with team-mate Carlos Sainz ninth behind Valtteri Bottas' Williams, Jenson Button gave McLaren signs of encouragement with the seventh fastest time, about 1.6s slower than Hamilton.
Team-mate Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, was 11th fastest behind Felipe Massa's Williams and brought one of the afternoon's more light-hearted moments when he challenged his engineer about the performance of his car's energy recovery system. "The battery is not charging," the Spaniard reported. "It is charging, keep going," Alonso was told in response. "Maybe you have a virus on your computer then because it is not charging," he shot back.
It's doubtful that Romain Grosjean saw the funny side, however, when the rear bodywork on his Lotus failed at around 200mph early on in the session - the Frenchman's E23 littering the pit-straight with bodywork, which prompted the session to be briefly halted.
A pair of broken bodywork fasteners was soon diagnosed, with the fix appearing relatively straightforward. Even so, Grosjean might have been forgiven for casting more than a quizzical eye in his wing mirrors at the repair job - a smothering of gaffer tape over the affected areas - Lotus came up with. He ended the session 12th fastest, two places ahead of team-mate Pastor Maldonado.
Times:
1. L Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:26.852
2. S Vettel, Ferrari, 1:27.260
3. N Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:27.616
4. K Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:27.780
5. D Kvyat, Red Bull, 1:27.943
6. M Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1:28.017
7. J Button, McLaren, 1:28.494
8. V Bottas, Williams, 1:28.525
9. C Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:28.674
10. F Massa, Williams, 1:28.712
11 F Alonso, McLaren, 1:28.723
12 R Grosjean, Lotus, 1:29.086
13 D Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:29.098
14 P Maldonado, Lotus, 1:29.217
15 F Nasr, Sauber, 1:29.361
16 M Ericsson, Sauber, 1:29.361
17 N Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:29.601
18 S Perez, Force India, 1:29.707
19 W Stevens, Manor, 1:31.929
20 R Merhi, Manor, 1:32.751
