22/07/2016
NEWS STORY
This morning's timesheet had more than a touch of Noah's Ark about it, in the sense of teammates lining up two-by-two.
Mercedes headed Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren, whilst Romain Grosjean spoiled the symmetry by leapfrogging Force India and Williams.
If nothing else, it demonstrated how well matched most of these driver pairings are. And if Esteban Gutierrez had been in the second Haas, as opposed to Charles Leclerc, might he have been up there with his French teammate?
The Mercedes duo, headed by Lewis Hamilton were comfortably quick, the gap to third placed Sebastian Vettel around 1.6s. however, the big question mark concerns Red Bull. The Milton Keynes outfit never tried the softest compound, therefore we are left wondering what Ricciardo and Verstappen might have in reserve, though surely it cannot be the 2s required to leapfrog the German cars.
Once again the tyre options are medium, soft and supersoft, whilst the DRS activation zones are after the apex of Turn 14 and after the apex of Turn One.
The resurfaced track has seen lower lap times but also we have seen a number of drivers go off and spin... including world champions.
And then there are the 'bugged' kerbs at T4 and T11.
There was minimal running for Palmer, Nasr and Wehrlein this morning, while Magnussen and Gutierrez gave their cars up to Ocon and Leclerc respectively.
Ahead of the green light, the air temperature is 26 degrees C, whilst the track temperature is 45 degrees. Despite the bright sunshine we are told there is a 20% chance of rain.
Grosjean gets the session underway, followed by Gutierrez, Raikkonen and Ericsson.
Replay shows Gutierrez almost running into trouble before he hits the track, the Mexican almost touching the pit wall as he fails to get enough lock on as he leaves his garage.
Vettel is one of the first to run wide, the German getting it wrong at T4. "I keep losing syncs this lap", he tells his team, referring to a gearbox issue.
Shortly after, Rosberg runs wide in T4 also, as Grosjean locks up at T1.
As the pace quickens, more and more drivers run wide, T4 rapidly becoming the scene of the most incidents.
The first wave of runs sees Rosberg quickest (21.961), ahead of Raikkonen, Grosjean, Massa, Sainz and Kvyat.
A 21.960 sees Hamilton go quickest by one-thousandth, with Rosberg failing to improve despite being quickest in the final two sectors.
"I think something is wrong with the rear end," sighs Bottas, "the car is just so oversteery."
Hamilton has gone off and clouted the barriers at T11. He is able to continue almost immediately, yet the session is red flagged.
Although the car doesn't appear significantly damaged - he is able to drive back to the pits after all - he did hit the barriers quite hard.
Indeed, the tyre barrier appears to have come off worse... hence the red flag.
The order: Hamilton, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Grosjean, Perez and Massa.
One of four drivers yet to post a time is Alonso, who, like Wehrlein, has yet to appear this session. That is because his engine has been changed between sessions after Honda discovered an anomaly. Old components have been used so there is no penalty.
The session resumes at 14:22.
Bottas is under investigation for failing to keep to the right of the pitlane entry bollard.
Meanwhile, Hamilton is seen being taken to the medical centre for what will be a precautionary check.
As Hamilton is spotted leaving the medical centre, Mercedes reveals: "FP2 over for Hamilton. Although he made it back to garage, car needs to be fully stripped & checked after impact with barrier."
Raikkonen bangs in a 22.058 to close to within 0.098s of Hamilton's best, as Hulkenberg and Kvyat both have moments.
Making hay, Rosberg goes quickest in all three sectors, crossing the line at 20.435 he puts 1.623s between himself and Raikkonen.
Elsewhere, a wobble for Alonso as he comes out of the final corner on to the pit straight.
In quick succession, Ericsson, Haryanto and Grosjean run wide in T4, the silent policeman giving the game away.
"Just over a second separates supersoft and soft here so far," reveals Pirelli. "The supersofts are clearly the tyres to have for qualifying."
Approaching half-time, it's: Rosberg, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Perez, Gutierrez, Massa, Verstappen and Bottas.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.
However, of those the Red Bull duo have yet to try the supersofts... at which point...
"Problem on the brake, problem on the brake," complains Grosjean. "The rear was all over the place, I really get fed up!"
Now on the supersofts, Ricciardo improves from fourth (22.351) to second (21.030) while Verstappen improves from ninth (22.684) to third (21.770). Both remain over 0.5s off Rosberg's best.
A big lock-up for Verstappen, the Dutch youngster unable to do much about the 0.8s gap to his teammate.
Sainz is under investigation for crossing the line at the pit entry.
TV cameras pick up on the floor of Alonso's car in the McLaren garage, the front of which has clearly sustained some damage and will need to be replaced.
Vettel, currently 15th (23.160) is on track on the supersofts as Massa runs wide at... guess where?
Vettel improves to third with a 21.357, almost a second off Rosberg's pace.
Cameras pick up on Massa parting company with his Monkey Seat.
Staying out on his supersofts, Vettel improves albeit by nine-thousandths.
With thirty minutes remaining, attention is one longer runs, most of the drivers on supersofts but a few on the softs.
Nasr is released at the exact moment a force India passes his garage, the two very, very lucky not to clash.
While the outright hot laps shows a hefty gap to the Mercedes, on the longer runs the Red Bulls are looking a lot better. Raikkonen also appears to have good pace.
Alonso is back on track following his various issues - or rather he's off track, at T4.
Indeed, there's a whole spate of offs at T4, Ericsson, Hulkenberg, Verstappen and Grosjean all getting in on the act.
A spin for Magnussen at T2 sees the Dane head back very slowly. "Everything OK Kev," he is asked. "I think so," he replies, "though I might have a puncture."
The Renault driver is currently 17th, while teammate Palmer has yet to post a time.
Nasr's session is done, he has stopped at T2 from where he is pushed to safety.
Though he's well down the timesheets, 20th to be precise, Haryanto tops the speed-trap table, the Manor driver heading Rosberg, Perez and Hulkenberg.
Sainz stops at T1 and is pushed to safety, the Spaniard having gone off at T2 just moments after Nasr stopped.
"Something at the rear," sighs the Spaniard, "obviously related to the engine."
Verstappen, Bottas and Verstappen (again), run wide in T4.
With 10 minutes remaining, Palmer is back on track, the Briton subsequently getting on to the sheets with a 25.352.
Raikkonen has completed the most laps thus far (43), ahead of Rosberg (42), Kvyat (39), Hulkenberg and Magnussen (both 37).
Kvyat is unhappy, complaining that Perez is "blocking" him. There follow a few expletives.
The session ends with Rosberg quickest, ahead of Ricciardo, Vettel, Verstappen, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Button, Hulkenberg and Perez.
Gutierrez is eleventh, ahead of Massa, Sainz, Bottas, Grosjean, Kvyat, Magnussen, Ericsson, Palmer, Nasr, Wehrlein and Haryanto.
Aside from Hamilton's crash, Mercedes looks to have this very much under control, and while broadcasters will want to play up Red Bull's long run pace, the Austrian team is no serious challenge to the Silver Arrows.
However, in terms of 'best of the rest'...
Check out our Friday gallery, here.