18/09/2015
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's second session, the air temperature is 28 degrees C, whilst the track temperature is 33 degrees. It is now approaching 21:30.
Nico Rosberg set the pace in FP1, edging out teammate Lewis Hamilton by 0.319s.
Daniel Ricciardo was third quickest, though his teammate Daniil Kvyat had limited running due to a technical issue.
Next up was the Ferrari duo, ahead of Valtteri Bottas as Williams also enjoyed a mixed session.
Sadly, rookie Alexander Rossi blotted his copybook in the final moments of the session, the American clouting the barriers at the notorious T18 and ripping off his right-hand wheels in the process. Whilst the session was red flagged, with little time remaining anyway it was decided to abandon it.
There were a number of other incidents over the course of the ninety minute session, Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel among the culprits.
In action on track and in the High Court in London, Lotus' day got a little worse when Maldonado suffered a gearbox issue, the Enstone outfit struggling for spares.
Tyre compounds this weekend are soft and supersoft, the latter making their first appearance over the next ninety minutes.
The lights go green and unsurprisingly Kvyat is eager to get going, he is followed by Stevens. Shortly after they are joined by Nasr, Vettel, Sainz, Rosberg and a heap of others.
Clouting the kerbs at T1 at the start of his first flying lap, Kvyat goes on to post 1:49.307, with Stevens posting 59.932 moments later.
More misery for Manor as Stevens stops at T12. The session is red-flagged.
Replay shows the Briton losing the rear of the car under braking for the left-hander.
Back in the Manor garage, mechanics are already hard at work repairing Rossi's car.
The session resumes, and almost immediately Button is on the radio. "I have vibrations on braking," he advises.
Verstappen is lucky not to be t-boned by Raikkonen, sloppy work by the Toro Rosso man who gave him the all-clear.
"Well, we've had better days..." tweets Manor.
A 48.103 sees Ricciardo go quickest, ahead of Rosberg (48.358) and Hamilton (48.756).
"Too much understeer at higher speed," says Rosberg, no doubt due to the cooler temperatures tonight.
Going quickest in the first and final sectors, Raikkonen crosses the line at 47.659.
Ricciardo closes to within 0.025s of Raikkonen as the Finn goes quickest in S1. Elsewhere, Vettel swears as he complains about the traffic. "****, there are cars everywhere," he moans after locking-up to avoid a slower car.
Sainz is crawling back to the pits, the Spaniard appearing to have a left-rear puncture.
Meanwhile, Kvyat has gone third (47.857), further suggesting that Red Bull could pose a serious threat this weekend, if only to Ferrari.
As if to prove the point the Russian improves to second with a 47.676, just 0.017s shy of pace-setter Raikkonen.
However, moments later Hamilton bangs in a 47.633.
With an hour remaining, Raikkonen is the first driver to make the switch to the option rubber. He's currently on 47.659.
Despite a problem with his practice start, Raikkonen is soon on the pace going quickest in the first two sectors. At the line he posts 46.181, eclipsing Hamilton by 1.452. Overall, the Finn improved by 1.478s.
Hulkenberg, Vettel, Ericsson and Nasr also switch to the softer rubber. As does Rosberg.
On the softer rubber, Vettel immediately goes second (46.487), whilst Hulkenberg (option) posts 47.294 to go third.
Vettel runs wide in T23, similar mistakes for Hamilton at T1 and Maldonado T10.
Rosberg goes third 946.781), 0.600s off Raikkonen's best.
"I don't feel the grip on this new tyre," says Verstappen.
Hamilton splits the Ferraris with a 46.479 but remains 0.298s off Raikkonen's time.
Kvyat shakes his fist in frustration after almost tripping up over Maldonado. His expletive filled radio message further reflects his obvious anger. "What the **** are you doing? Come on, I almost crashed!"
"I think I destroyed Felipe's lap," says Vettel, "next time, let me know if someone's coming because I couldn't see him in my mirrors."
Ricciardo goes second with a 46.256, the Australian now just 0.075s off Raikkonen's pace.
Alonso goes seventh, the Spaniard posting 46.959.
At 'half-time', it's: Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Vettel, Kvyat, Rosberg, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Verstappen and Massa.
Moments later, Kvyat posts 46.142 to go quickest.
Perez goes sixth with a 46.659, the top eight currently covered by 0.817s.
With just over thirty minute remaining, attention now shifts to Sunday, high fuel runs on the option rubber. Hamilton is told his target is "high 51s".
"I have no power on the exit of the last corner," complains Sainz, back on track after the brush with the wall that left him deflated.
On the longer runs, Ricciardo is giving Hamilton a run for his money.
Raikkonen is unhappy with the balance of his car. "I have front locking, understeer and the traction isn't brilliant". He fails to add, 'but apart from that...'
"Looks like the gap between soft and supersoft is around 1.5 seconds," says Pirelli. "Strategy needs to be flexible; two or three stops likely."
As Rossi finally leave his garage - with 20 minutes remaining - Perez, suffering an issue with upshifts, complains "why don't you talk to me".
Kvyat locks up and runs wide after almost tripping up over Maldonado (again). The Russian complains that the Lotus driver is "slow2 and "goes straight at every corner".
Rossi finally posts a time, immediately eclipsing his teammate who crashed at the start.
"My overall grip is just... gone," says Button. "Front and rear."
Out comes the yellow flag when Rosberg gets it wrong and heads up the slip road at T18.
"Can we try a cool down lap to see if we can recover the grip," Button is asked. "We can't do that in the race," is the response.
Pace on the longer runs, much like the overall timesheets, suggests Red Bull will be strong here. Indeed, Mercedes appears to have a fight on its hands.
The session ends, with Kvyat quickest, ahead of Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Vettel, Perez, Rosberg, Alonso, Hulkenberg and Verstappen.
Massa is eleventh, ahead of Nasr, Ericsson, Button, Sainz, Grosjean, Bottas, Maldonado, Rossi and Stevens.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.