Practice report
Formula 1 Chinese GP
Hamilton leads from Raikkonen in second F1 practice
Lewis Hamilton stayed on top of the times in second practice for the Chinese Grand Prix, as Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg finished down in fifth.
Pablo Elizalde
Edited: Apr 10, 2015, 10:21 AM
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Hamilton, quickest in the morning session, went nearly two seconds faster than in FP1 as he used Pirelli's soft tyres to set a best time of 1:37.219.
Unlike the first session, however, the world champion's closest challenger was not his teammate Rosberg, but the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, who finished over four tenths behind in second.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was third, albeit a second behind Hamilton, despite a difficult start to second practice, with both the Australian and teammate Daniil Kvyat spending a lot of time in the garage.
Red Bull problems
Kvyat did not complete his first timed lap after 30 minutes had passed, while Ricciardo was worse off, not taking to the track until nearly the 45-minute mark.
The Russian suffered more problems late in the session when he was asked to return to the pits slowly after smoke came out of his rear-left brake.
He did not make it, however, after the rear brakes failed completely and he ended up crashing against the barrier after the back straight.
Sebastian Vettel was fourth quickest in the second Ferrari, the German surviving a scare early in the session when he lost control of his car at the exit of Turn 4, spinning spectacularly before managing to continue despite a trip through the gravel.
Rosberg wound up fifth after a mistake on his soft-tyre run, ahead of Kvyat and the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.
Red flag
The session was red-flagged some 40 minute in when Bottas' teammate Felipe Massa lost the rear of his Williams under braking after the back straight.
The Brazilian was lucky to escape a major impact and only just kissed the barriers, breaking part of his front wing, but was unable to continue running later and finished down in 17th.
McLaren had its best session to date in 2015, with Jenson Button in 10th and Fernando Alonso in 12th.
Will Stevens' day came to an early finish after just six laps, the Briton hit by a power unit-related problem.
He finished at the bottom of the times over seven seconds off the pace.
There was a bizarre and dangerous moment some 20 minutes into the session when a man crossed the start/finish straight and jumped the pit wall before being arrested by police.
F1 - Chinese GP 2015 - Free Practice 2 DriverTeamTimeGapLaps 01 
L. Hamilton 
Mercedes 1:37.219 32 02 
K. Raikkonen 
Ferrari 1:37.662 +0.443 35 03 
D. Ricciardo 
Red Bull 1:38.311 +1.092 24 04 
S. Vettel Ferrari 1:38.339 +1.120 30 05 N. Rosberg Mercedes 1:38.399 +1.180 35 06 
D. Kvyat Red Bull 1:38.737 +1.518 10 07 V. Bottas 
Williams 1:38.850 +1.631 27 08 
F. Nasr 
Sauber 1:39.032 +1.813 26 09 
R. Grosjean 
Lotus 1:39.142 +1.923 32 10 J. Button 
McLaren 1:39.275 +2.056 29 11 
P. Maldonado Lotus 1:39.444 +2.225 30 12 
F. Alonso McLaren 1:39.743 +2.524 27 13 
M. Ericsson Sauber 1:39.751 +2.532 33 14 
M. Verstappen 
Toro Rosso 1:39.894 +2.675 32 15 C. Sainz Toro Rosso 1:39.971 +2.752 28 16 N. Hulkenberg 
Force India 1:40.151 +2.932 28 17 F. Massa Williams 1:40.423 +3.204 7 18 
S. Perez Force India 1:40.868 +3.649 24 19 R. Merhi 
Manor 1:42.973 +5.754 7 20 W. Stevens Manor 1:44.564 +7.345 8
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