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Australia

Russian GP: Hamilton leads dominant Mercedes 1-2 in FP2

Mercedes headed the times in the second Formula 1 practice session for this weekend's Russian Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton quicker than his teammate Valtteri Bottas by two tenths of a second.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1 W09

Photo by: Manuel Goria / Motorsport Images

Their quickest laps, set on the hypersoft tyres, were both set half an hour into the session during the team's qualifying simulation runs.

Bottas went fastest before he was beaten by his Mercedes teammate, who circulated the 5.8km circuit 0.199s quicker.

The Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were next up on the timesheets in Sochi, the pair both 0.4s off the best time of Hamilton's.

The gap between the pair of them was very small, as just 0.017s separated the Red Bull pair. Despite their pace, both drivers will face grid penalties for power unit changes this weekend.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel recorded the fifth fastest time, half a second up on his tea-mate Kimi Raikkonen who was sixth.

With 20 minutes of the session remaining, Vettel had a small spin under braking for Turn 13, which was one of the few incidents in a largely uneventful session.

The Force Indias were seventh and ninth – Sergio Perez ahead of Esteban Ocon – while Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) and Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) rounded out the top 10.

Conditions on the Black Sea coastline were mild, but cloudier than this morning and despite Raikkonen reporting spots of rain early on it stayed dry throughout.

Kevin Magnussen set the 11th fastest time ahead of his Haas teammate Romain Grosjean, who was 15th on the day that both drivers were confirmed at the team for 2019.

Sauber's Charles Leclerc finished the session in 13th, splitting the two Renaults.

Slowest of the runners were the two McLarens, Alonso ahead of Vandoorne and finally the two Williams, with Russia's Sergey Sirotkin, racing at his home circuit for the first time in F1, ahead of Lance Stroll.

Cla Driver Chassis Engine Laps Time Gap
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton  Mercedes Mercedes 35 1'33.385  
2 Finland Valtteri Bottas  Mercedes Mercedes 33 1'33.584 0.199
3 Netherlands Max Verstappen  Red Bull TAG 32 1'33.827 0.442
4 Australia Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull TAG 37 1'33.844 0.459
5 Germany Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari Ferrari 33 1'33.928 0.543
6 Finland Kimi Raikkonen  Ferrari Ferrari 31 1'34.388 1.003
7 Mexico Sergio Perez  Force India Mercedes 30 1'35.122 1.737
8 France Pierre Gasly  Toro Rosso Honda 28 1'35.137 1.752
9 France Esteban Ocon  Force India Mercedes 33 1'35.147 1.762
10 Sweden Marcus Ericsson  Sauber Ferrari 35 1'35.295 1.910
11 Denmark Kevin Magnussen  Haas Ferrari 33 1'35.331 1.946
12 Spain Carlos Sainz  Renault Renault 37 1'35.341 1.956
13 Monaco Charles Leclerc  Sauber Ferrari 32 1'35.432 2.047
14 Germany Nico Hulkenberg  Renault Renault 35 1'35.568 2.183
15 France Romain Grosjean  Haas Ferrari 35 1'35.911 2.526
16 New Zealand Brendon Hartley  Toro Rosso Honda 29 1'36.024 2.639
17 Spain Fernando Alonso  McLaren Renault 34 1'36.074 2.689
18 Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne  McLaren Renault 31 1'36.617 3.232
19 Russian Federation Sergey Sirotkin  Williams Mercedes 39 1'36.861 3.476
20 Canada Lance Stroll  Williams Mercedes 35 1'37.001 3.616

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Edition

Australia