Abu Dhabi GP: Free Practice #2 - Re-Cap & Times

ABU DHABI GP - FREE PRACTICE #2 - RE-CAP & TIMES

    Lewis Hamilton set a new lap record around the Yas Marina circuit as he topped the second free practice ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

    In the only truly representative practice session, Hamilton finished 0.149s quicker than Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who topped the times in FP1.

    It was a relatively messy session for the newly crowned champion, who ran off at the chicane early in in the 90-minute practice. There was no damage to his Mercedes and he went on to top the order on super- and ultra-soft tyres, but ran wide with a big lock up at the end of the qualifying simulations.

    Vettel enjoyed a cleaner session, but couldn’t beat Hamilton’s 1m37.877s lap in the qualifying simulation, but the Ferrari just had the edge over the Mercedes in the longer stints.

    Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was third fastest, more than three tenths of a second slower than Hamilton. Team-mate Max Verstappen could only manage sixth fastest after problems with his tyres 
early in the session.

    Kimi Raikkonen took fourth quickest, 0.2s quicker than Valtteri Bottas, who was the first man to finish his qualifying run.

    Force India was best of the rest, with Sergio Perez beating Esteban Ocon by just a hundredth of a second.

    Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso rounded out the top 10, with Felipe Massa just behind in P11.

    Stoffel Vandoorne, who finished 12th, suffered a spin at turn 20 early in the qualifying simulations. After restarting his McLaren Honda, he was able to continue, lapping 0.112s slower than team-mate Alonso.

    Carlos Sainz Jnr, Lance Stroll, and Pierre Gasly finished 13th to 15th, ahead of Kevin Magnussen and the Sauber duo. Pascal Wehrlein beat team-mate Marcus Ericsson by just 0.032s.

    Brendon Hartley, who suffered a spin late in the qualifying runs after losing control of the rear of his Toro Rosso, finished 19th overall.

    Haas’ Romain Grosjean spent most of the session in the garage with an electrical problem. He was slowest after just 12 laps.

TIMES:

1. Lewis Hamilton - 1:37.877 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain
2. Sebastian Vettel - 1:38.026 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany
3. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:38.180 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Australia
4. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:38.352 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland
5. Valtteri Bottas - 1:38.537 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Finland
6. Max Verstappen - 1:38.894 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Netherlands
7. Sergio Perez - 1:39.323 / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico
8. Esteban Ocon - 1:39.333 / Force India-Mercedes / France
9. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:39.529 / Renault-Renault / Germany
10. Fernando Alonso - 1:39.559 / McLaren-Honda / Spain
11. Felipe Massa - 1:39.635 / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil
12. Stoffel Vandoorne - 1:39.671 / McLaren-Honda / Belgium
13. Carlos Sainz - 1:40.201 / Renault-Renault / Spain
14. Lance Stroll – 1:40.329 / Williams-Mercedes / Canada
15. Pierre Gasly - 1:40.694 / Toro Rosso-Renault / France
16. Kevin Magnussen - 1:41.128 / Haas-Ferrari / Denmark
17. Pascal Wehrlein - 1:41.270 / Sauber-Ferrari / Germany
18. Marcus Ericsson - 1:41.302 / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden
19. Brendon Hartley - 1:41.496 / Toro Rosso-Renault / New Zealand
20. Romain Grosjean - 1:41.560 / Haas-Ferrari / France

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Article Written By: Bethonie Waring
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