Practice report
Formula 1 Spanish GP
Hamilton strikes back, Vettel splits Mercedes duo in FP2
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona, but Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel outpaced the second Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.
Charles Bradley
Edited: May 8, 2015, 2:44 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Rosberg set the early pace on fresh hard tyres, but Hamilton blitzed that time by 1.249s on a 1m27.826s after 15 minutes.
The session was red flagged soon after, as the entire rear bodywork exploded away from Romain Grosjean’s car while his Lotus was flat-out on the start-finish straight, with its DRS open.
“I lost something in the straightline,” he reported, trundling back to the pits with the rear-end of his car in tatters. The team blamed two fasteners on the top side of the bodywork for causing the issue.
Drivers complained throughout the session of a lack of grip, as track temperature soared in the afternoon heat of the Spanish spring.
Vettel was the first frontrunner to sample the medium tyre, just before the half-hour mark. He beat Hamilton’s hard-tyre best by 0.566s to 1m27.260s, but complained of “a lot of vibrations on this set”.
Kimi Raikkonen only just beat Hamilton’s hard-tyred time on his third lap on medium tyres.
Hamilton changed front suspension settings before his medium-tyre run, and found 0.408s on the medium tyres, despite a lock-up into Turn 10. His 1m26.852s was 0.034s off Rosberg’s fastest time from FP1, set in cooler conditions.
Rosberg’s first medium-tyre lap was compromised by running wide at the Turn 10 hairpin, and complained of “rejected downshifts” over the radio, so was 0.356s off Vettel’s time. He too concentrated on front suspension tweaks in this session.
The session ended in the order: Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg and Raikkonen.
Red Bull’s Daniel Kvyat went fifth fastest on 1m27.943s, as teammate Daniel Ricciardo missed most of the session while his engine was being changed. Riccardo completed a couple of laps near the end, but was only 13th fastest.
Max Verstappen continued Toro Rosso’s strong showing so far by going sixth fastest on 1m28.017s.
Jenson Button also impressed for McLaren in seventh, and found time for a front wing comparison during the session as teams worked on their update packages.
Williams were eighth and 10th respectively with Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, sandwiching the second Toro Rosso of top Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr.
Fernando Alonso was 11th in the second McLaren, and provided the comic turn of the session when querying whether his ERS was charging: “Maybe you have a virus in your computer because it's not charging anything.”
The bottom half of the field was in the order: Lotus, Sauber, Force India and Marussia. Will Stevens went off briefly at Turn 5.
Pos Driver Car / Engine Time Gap Laps 1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'26.852 26 2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1'27.260 0.408 37 3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1'27.616 0.764 35 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1'27.780 0.928 36 5 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull/Renault 1'27.943 1.091 25 6 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault 1'28.017 1.165 32 7 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1'28.494 1.642 31 8 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1'28.525 1.673 39 9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 1'28.674 1.822 31 10 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1'28.712 1.860 36 11 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1'28.723 1.871 28 12 Romain Grosjean Lotus/Mercedes 1'29.086 2.234 14 13 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1'29.098 2.246 4 14 Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes 1'29.217 2.365 34 15 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1'29.333 2.481 37 16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1'29.361 2.509 34 17 Nico Hülkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1'29.601 2.749 38 18 Sergio Pérez Force India/Mercedes 1'29.707 2.855 35 19 Will Stevens Marussia/Ferrari 1'31.929 5.077 30 20 Roberto Merhi Marussia/Ferrari 1'32.751 5.899 23
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article McLaren, Mercedes support fifth engine push
Next article Encouraging start for Mercedes on opening day at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Charles Bradley
Mika Hakkinen on his darkest day in F1
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mika Hakkinen on his darkest day in F1
Dillon: Spotter was “wrong” to shout “wreck him!” before Hamlin clash
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Dillon: Spotter was “wrong” to shout “wreck him!” before Hamlin clash
Hamlin: NASCAR stripping Dillon of win would be “warranted”
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Hamlin: NASCAR stripping Dillon of win would be “warranted”
More from
Lewis Hamilton
Oscar Piastri on his Singapore puncture: “Ironically, it probably helped”
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
14 h
Oscar Piastri on his Singapore puncture: “Ironically, it probably helped”
Why Ferrari caved in to Lewis Hamilton’s failed Singapore F1 gamble
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Why Ferrari caved in to Lewis Hamilton’s failed Singapore F1 gamble
More from
Mercedes
‘I’ll put a pillow under his butt’ – How Toto Wolff wants to solve Kimi Antonelli’s track limits problem
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
20 h
‘I’ll put a pillow under his butt’ – How Toto Wolff wants to solve Kimi Antonelli’s track limits problem
George Russell calls Red Bull "the team to beat" in F1, but Kimi Antonelli adds a key caveat
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
George Russell calls Red Bull "the team to beat" in F1, but Kimi Antonelli adds a key caveat
Latest news
F1 signs historic 10-year Rwanda deal to host African Grand Prix
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 20 min
F1 signs historic 10-year Rwanda deal to host African Grand Prix
Fred Vasseur "not sure" if Red Bull is currently F1's best team
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
1 h
Fred Vasseur "not sure" if Red Bull is currently F1's best team
WSJ Report: NASCAR is building 80+ race cars for Days of Thunder sequel
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 3 h
WSJ Report: NASCAR is building 80+ race cars for Days of Thunder sequel
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe