FP2: More of the same from Merc

Editor

Different practice session but the same outcome as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg dominated proceedings at Monza on Friday afternoon.

As expected, given the times in FP1, Mercedes ran the 1-2 for most of Friday's second practice at the high-speed Italian circuit.

Running their upgraded Mercedes engine, which used the final seven tokens available to the engine manufacturer, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg set the pace on the medium tyres.

Hamilton posted a 1:25.133 while Rosberg was 0.318s. Sebastian Vettel was third quickest on the slower of the two compounds, 1.119s off the leading time.

A swap to the soft tyres yielded more of the same as Hamilton and Rosberg again proved unbeatable.

The Championship leader clocked a 1:24.279 to edge his team-mate by 0.021s. Vettel was third in his Ferrari, 0.759s down.

Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg showed that Force India's pace in FP1 was not a fluke. For the second time on Friday they were fourth and fifth quickest, although this time with the Mexican racer ahead of the German.

Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were next in line and with Valtteri Bottas also in the mid 1:25s, fourth to ninth was separated by four-tenths of a second.

There were issues for several drivers during the 90-minute session.

Both Red Bull drivers spent time in the pits as Daniil Kvyat's session got off to a delayed start as the team completed work begun during the break while Daniel Ricciardo was forced to pit when his RB11 became stuck in first gear.

The situation was a bit more serious for Jenson Button, who was told to box after McLaren found an "anomaly" on his data. That turned out to be a water leak that kept him stranded in the pits having completed just three laps.

Fernando Alonso had a better afternoon as the Spanish racer covered 31 laps in FP2. His best, a 1:26.966, put him P16.

Times
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:24.279 27 laps
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:24.300 +0.021 35 laps
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:25.038 0.759 37 laps
4 Sergio Perez Force India 1:25.278 0.999 34 laps
5 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:25.325 1.046 43 laps
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:25.380 1.101 39 laps
7 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:25.497 1.218    41 laps
8 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:25.513 1.234 41 laps
9 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:25.647 1.368 34 laps
10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:25.891 1.612 31 laps
11 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:26.114 1.835 30 laps
12 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:26.133 1.854 32 laps
13 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:26.222 1.943 27 laps
14 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:26.454 2.175 38 laps
15 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:26.641 2.362 49 laps
16 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:26.966 2.687 31 laps
17 Will Stevens Manor 1:28.201 3.922 29 laps
18 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:28.439 4.160 28 laps
19 Jenson Button McLaren 1:28.471 4.192 3 laps
20 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:28.723 4.444 29 laps