Hamilton fastest as Vettel hits trouble

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Russia, Sochi International Street Circuitru

Having been easily outpaced by his team mate in the morning session, Lewis Hamilton was immediately on the pace in the second practice session, going fastest on his first few attempts without anybody else seemingly coming close.

Hamilton was about a tenth ahead of Vettel and another half second quicker than Rosberg before they all switched to the super soft tyres. Hamilton similarly proved fastest on those, with Rosberg unable to improve and Vettel coming to a halt with electrical trouble.

Having had just 30 minutes of running, Vettel rolled to a stop in front of the pitlane. A virtual safety car period was engaged to allow the marshalls to safely return the car to the garage. It immediately meant the end of the session for the German, who later incurred a 5-place grid penalty as the team found it necessary to install a new gearbox into the Ferrari SF16-H.

Raikkonen went 4th fastest, with again Ricciardo looking agile enough to be the best of the rest.

After the first 30 minutes, teams as usual switched to race simulations, but with the continued low levels of grip, numerous drivers were caught out and and seen going off track or into spins, all without damage.

Results

..
Pos.No.DriverTeamTimeGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:37.583-30
25Sebastian VettelFerrari1:38.235+0.652s10
36Nico RosbergMercedes1:38.450+0.867s37
47Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:38.793+1.210s35
53Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing1:39.084+1.501s34
677Valtteri BottasWilliams1:39.185+1.602s42
726Daniil KvyatRed Bull Racing1:39.193+1.610s32
822Jenson ButtonMclaren1:39.196+1.613s31
919Felipe MassaWilliams1:39.289+1.706s38
1014Fernando AlonsoMclaren1:39.400+1.817s30
1155Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:39.465+1.882s37
1233Max VerstappenToro Rosso1:39.501+1.918s30
1327Nico HulkenbergForce India1:39.795+2.212s31
1411Sergio PerezForce India1:39.867+2.284s38
1520Kevin MagnussenRenault1:40.193+2.610s41
168Romain GrosjeanHaas1:40.260+2.677s24
1721Esteban GutierrezHaas1:40.508+2.925s26
1830Jolyon PalmerRenault1:40.688+3.105s37
1912Felipe NasrSauber1:40.740+3.157s31
2088Rio HaryantoManor1:41.080+3.497s38
2194Pascal WehrleinManor1:41.148+3.565s23
229Marcus EricssonSauber1:41.652+4.069s29