Lewis Hamilton has bounced back from a suspension problem to finish the second practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix as the fastest driver ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.
The British driver lost some track time early on in the session, but once he came out he managed to lay down a pace that was good enough to edge out Alonso by one-tenth of a second. The Spaniard had threatened to go back-to-back following his charge to P1 in the first practice on Friday.
An increase in track temperature for FP2 meant that conditions were far more representative of what teams can expect to encounter during qualifying and the race in China, and as a result there was less of a reluctance to get out early. For Mercedes and Hamilton, though, there was little choice in the matter as the team continued to work on his car following a problem during the first session.
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat was the early pace-setter during FP2 with McLaren drivers Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button slotting into second and third place behind the Russian youngster. However, his lead soon vanished when the front-runners came out as Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa traded fastest lap times. Nico Rosberg was eventually the first driver to dip below the 1:40 mark, but Fernando Alonso pulled out another half a second on the Mercedes driver.
Having not set a time during first practice, Kimi Raikkonen finally emerged from the pits for Ferrari after his car had been fixed by the team. The Finn did appear to get in the way of Esteban Gutierrez under braking, prompting the Mexican driver to complain over the radio that he had lost time as a result.
Pastor Maldonado was the first driver to make the switch to the soft compound tire, and jumped up into fourth place as a result thanks to the added pace and grip of the options. However, his session soon took a turn for the worse as he crashed his car on the entry to the pit lane, ending his session in the barrier and giving his team some repair work to do overnight.
Despite the yellow flags, Nico Rosberg was able to go fastest once again on the soft tire, pulling out another half-second over Alonso at the top. Teammate Lewis Hamilton finally managed to get out on track after his team had fixed the W05 car, and the Briton went into sixth place with his first attempt. Fernando Alonso soon returned to the top of the timesheets on the soft tire, suggesting that Ferrari has made a step forwards this weekend after a difficult weekend last time out in Bahrain.
Hamilton was one of the last men to make the switch to the soft tire, but it paid off as he went fastest of all by one-tenth of a second with 40 minutes remaining in the session. Kimi Raikkonen also ventured out on the options after his delay, and went seventh fastest.
After this set of soft tire runs, most of the teams turned their attention to race simulations to prepare for Sunday afternoon, and the times went unchanged as a result. Daniel Ricciardo put in a good stint on his long run with the prime tire, whilst Hamilton reported that his options were wearing very quickly, and even told the team that he wasn’t at all happy with the car.
Mercedes might be back on top, but it is hard to believe that the team’s advantage is just one tenth of a second. It will be interesting to see what result qualifying produces tomorrow, but with rain forecast, this weekend might not be as straightforward as Mercedes may have wanted it to be.
