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Nico Rosberg Leads Kimi Raikkonen in Second Practice at the Spanish Grand Prix
May 14th, 2016 | 07:44 AM | 1389 views
SPAIN
Nico Rosberg returned to the top of the leaderboard in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix as his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton failed to hook a clean lap together at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Rosberg's 1:23.922 was two tenths quicker than Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari, while Hamilton endured a scruffy lap and finished 0.7s behind the German. It appeared Hamilton left plenty on the table after encountering a bit of traffic, while his car was moving around a lot through the corners, but it hands the initiative to championship leader Rosberg going into Saturday.
Though Mercedes is known to turn up its engine for qualifying on Saturday afternoons, Raikkonen's second position will be a boost for Ferrari . However, the Finn had to pit 40 minutes into the session with a fuel system issue, which was rectified in time for him to return to the track before the end of the session. Vettel finished a full second behind Rosberg but the eight tenths separating him from Raikkonen is unlikely to continue tomorrow.
Carlos Sainz demonstrated Toro Rosso's strong aerodynamic package with an impressive lap to secure fifth fastest, 1.2s off Rosberg and two tenths quicker than the nearest Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo. Max Verstappen finished the session eighth but was once again within two tenths of new teammate Ricciardo on what seemed to be a smooth first day with the RB12. Sainz's pace suggests Toro Rosso can once again challenge Red Bull in qualifying as it did here last season, meaning Daniil Kvyat's lowly 15th-place finish was likely due to the Russian chasing setup in his new surroundings.
Splitting Ricciardo and Verstappen was the McLaren of Fernando Alonso, who continued to show encouraging signs from the team's aero upgrades for the weekend. The Spaniard hopes the updates make McLaren a regular fixture in the top ten but the team will be wary of expecting too much from Friday's practice times. Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten with the upgraded Force India VJM08, sporting a revised front wing the team hopes will solve its recent tyre degradation issues.
Valtteri Bottas finished 11th for Williams ahead of the other McLaren of Button, who stopped in the pit lane in the middle of the session but returned to the track before the clock expired. Romain Grosjean continued to struggle with the handling of his Haas VF-16 but finished the session 13th, ahead of Renault's Kevin Magnussen and Kvyat.
Massa ended the afternoon in 16th, one place ahead of Renault's Jolyon Palmer, who managed to complete 16 laps despite a left rear puncture early in the session which led to red flags and a ten minute delay. Wehrlein once again beat Haryanto in the battle of the Manors, who finished ahead of Sauber drivers Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson, who were split by Gutierrez's Haas in 21st position after the Mexican was restricted to just nine laps due to an electrical issue.
Source:
courtesy of ESPN
by Nate Saunders
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