Hamilton eases to front in second Sochi practice
F1 Grand Prix, GP Russia, Sochi International Street Circuit
Following a difficult first session where the Brit wasn't happy with his performance, Lewis Hamilton jumped to the top of the timesheet with ease, topping closest competitor Kevin Magnussen by nearly a second.
Hamilton felt at ease on the soft tyres to top the times towards the end of the session, benefiting from Rosberg's failure to set a competitive time on those tyres after going wide at Turn 17. The latter though had set the pace in the first part of the session, dominated by running on the medium Pirelli tyres.
The session was only briefly interrepted close to the end when Daniel Ricciardo caused a red flag. His smoking Red Bull RB10 came to a halt on track, requiring a stoppage to get the car removed safely.
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:39.630 | - | 27 |
| 2 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:40.494 | 0.864 | 32 |
| 3 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:40.504 | 0.874 | 32 |
| 4 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:40.542 | 0.912 | 30 |
| 5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:40.573 | 0.943 | 33 |
| 6 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:40.718 | 1.088 | 32 |
| 7 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:40.731 | 1.101 | 30 |
| 8 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Str-Renault | 1:41.108 | 1.478 | 32 |
| 9 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:41.396 | 1.766 | 30 |
| 10 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Str-Renault | 1:41.531 | 1.901 | 33 |
| 11 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:41.630 | 2.000 | 24 |
| 12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:41.677 | 2.047 | 27 |
| 13 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:42.061 | 2.431 | 25 |
| 14 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1:42.090 | 2.460 | 29 |
| 15 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:42.233 | 2.603 | 31 |
| 16 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:42.892 | 3.262 | 30 |
| 17 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1:42.905 | 3.275 | 33 |
| 18 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:43.055 | 3.425 | 33 |
| 19 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1:44.135 | 4.505 | 22 |
| 20 | 4 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1:44.530 | 4.900 | 29 |
| 21 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1:44.952 | 5.322 | 27 |
