Kvyat tops Mercedes in rainy FP2

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Japan, Circuit Suzukajp

Daniil Kvyat was fastest in the second practice session at Suzuka, Japan as rain continued to fall down on the track. Mercedes' Nico Rosberg was a close second while Lewis Hamilton was third fastest.

As is usual in these conditions, most drivers ran a limited programma, with Kvyat completing just 6 laps.

Contrary to the morning session, conditions were best in the first 30 minutes. Immediately after Kvyat's best time, the skies darkened and rain hit the track, following a period of better conditions with running on intermediate tyres.

Beyond that point, Vettel completed several laps at around the 2 minute mark, reporting a lot of standing water and aquaplaning as a result. Both Mercedes also completed reconnaissance laps in that period while Fernando Alonso only ran in the second half of the session as well, having missed the best conditions as McLaren was working on his car.

Bottas was the only man not to run during this session, saying this was aimed at saving tyres for the remainder of the weekend, knowing that more rain and wet weather running is expected on Saturday and during the race.

Results

..
Pos.No.DriverTeamTimeGapLaps
126Daniil KvyatRed Bull Racing1:48.277-6
26Nico RosbergMercedes1:48.300+0.023s8
344Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:48.853+0.576s8
43Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing1:49.097+0.820s10
55Sebastian VettelFerrari1:50.268+1.991s19
67Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:50.319+2.042s16
755Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:50.418+2.141s6
833Max VerstappenToro Rosso1:50.542+2.265s5
912Felipe NasrSauber1:50.968+2.691s10
1013Pastor MaldonadoLotus1:51.557+3.280s7
1127Nico HulkenbergForce India1:51.674+3.397s11
1222Jenson ButtonMcLaren1:51.861+3.584s9
139Marcus EricssonSauber1:51.934+3.657s12
1411Sergio PerezForce India1:52.070+3.793s8
158Romain GrosjeanLotus1:52.534+4.257s6
1619Felipe MassaWilliams1:52.765+4.488s6
1714Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1:55.239+6.962s10
1828Will StevensMarussia1:58.059+9.782s6
1953Alexander RossiMarussia1:59.419+11.142s7