Rosberg keeps it on top in FP2 for the British Grand Prix

· by · in F1 Practice Review. ·

Brought to you by TheJudge13 lifestyle specialist Mattpt55 

Again it was the torrid pace of the Mercedes in Rosberg’s hands that set the standard for FP2. Unfortunately for Lewis, he was nearly a half second back in P4 as he complained all afternoon of “the car being all over the place”. Not happy days and definitely the missed testing doing Hamilton no favours, along with the sweltering track temps. It was mentioned that after 4 weeks of running the 2015 clutch which made Rosberg unhappy, and another 4 weeks of reverting to the 2014 clutch which made Lewis unhappy, Mercedes have taken the decision that each will be allowed to run the clutch that works best for them. Glad they got that sorted quickly.

Ferrari were best of the rest with Kimi ahead of Vettel on one lap pace and Red Bull settled firmly in third as Williams were typically nowhere on a Friday. Behind, Force India and Toro Rosso will no doubt be at it hammer and tongs as the new updates work their way into lap times for Perez and Hulkenberg.

All cars seemed to struggle for rear grip at times and if the temperatures remain high for quali and the race no doubt entertainment will ensue.

Grosjean, Alonso and Merhi all went rallycross during the session with Merhi and Grosjean bringing out red flags. Grosjean came off worst as he beached himself thoroughly after complaining of instability at the back. Given that he missed all of FP1 it won’t be the happiest of nights, no doubt.

Force India have employed a camouflage strategy of dressing their pit crew in exactly the same colours as the Mercedes pit crew which has already created some confusion. Should be interesting to see if that changes for tomorrow.

Mercedes ultimately received a reprimand for their illegal covering of the floor of the car at the end of FP1 and they have likely promised they won’t do it again, really.

Quali tomorrow now promises to be most interesting if Lewis can’t get his car sorted and a special shout out to the director at NBCSN who cut away from a shot of Hamilton’s practice start to show us clouds gently scudding across the sky. Appreciate that!

FP2 Times:

# Driver Ctry Team Time Gap Laps
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:34.155 – 35
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:34.502 0.347 29
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:34.522 0.367 28
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.621 0.466 24
5 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:35.009 0.854 25
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:35.153 0.998 22
7 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:35.300 1.145 37
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:35.387 1.232 34
9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:35.866 1.711 37
10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:36.147 1.992 33
11 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:36.164 2.009 32
12 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:36.183 2.028 34
13 Sergio Perez Force India 1:36.351 2.196 28
14 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:36.728 2.573 21
15 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:36.731 2.576 19
16 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:36.822 2.667 23
17 Jenson Button McLaren 1:37.196 3.041 16
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:37.327 3.172 38
19 Will Stevens Manor 1:38.279 4.124 21
20 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:39.878 5.723 21

20 responses to “Rosberg keeps it on top in FP2 for the British Grand Prix”

  1. Because I’m happyyyy

    Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof…

    Because I’m happyyyy

    Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth…

  2. Chaps, It’s not fair to judge them on the timesheets. Louis H.A.M. is carrying around with him some 10kg of gold bling/chains under that race suit. That’s got to be worth a few tenths. Get some gold on Rose-bush, and we have a fair fight.

    • I’m shocked that Fat Ted didn’t bring that up in the SkyF1 broadcast. He seemed to use every excuse for him while downplaying Rosberg’s performance.

  3. “special shout out to the director at NBCSN who cut away from a shot of Hamilton’s practice start to show us clouds gently scudding across the sky. Appreciate that!”

    Don’t worry Matt, they did it to us as well….😂😂😂

  4. Will be interesting to see what Hulk does with the new car given he managed sixth in last years car. We know you are only as good as your last race and if form is anything to go by there could be two Germans at ferrari next year. Important next couple of races for Bottas and Hulk!

  5. Ted Dravitz drives me crazy and makes me want to throw things at the screen. Ted was talking about the team changing a spring on one side of Hamilton’s car and said of the change: “It’s not unusual but you don’t see it very often.” Thanks Ted.

  6. I wouldn’t count Lewis out yet, look at last years turn around, but he needs some set up tweaking overnight, otherwise it could get tasty. At least you can fight a Silverstone during the race, but he’ll have to get on the pace with Rosberg too to do that. Could be an interesting one.

    In another note, Hamilton has only won Silverstone when I have been at the track, so any avid fans want to send a few tickets my way would be much appreciated.

    • He was like a second down on race pace. He was definitely slower than Ferrari, but I’m not sure whether he was slower than Red Bull.

      • As with every weekend since the start of the 2014 season though, Mercedes’ race simulation pace isn’t necessarily as indicative of where they’re at as it is for other teams. We know they turn the wick up in qualifying, and have that ability in the race itself too. Barring a total strategic balls up (so never say never…) I still think it’ll be 2 Mercs up front after Q3, and then a familiar tale in the race itself.

      • I have him 9th fastest in race pace, which in a car as dominant as the Mercedes probably means 2nd at the end of Sunday.

    • How about some tickets to Indianapolis motor speedway to watch Rolling Stones this weekend? Would that keep you far away 😃

  7. It’s still just practice. I’m still expecting Lewis suddenly improve in last quali session and be in front row. He has a tendency to do that. Maybe he’s sandbagging or maybe he’s just testing the car to find the right settings. He really has no real need to show all he has got during Friday practice.

    • My suspicion is that on old-school tracks, Rosberg has mostly had the measure of Hamilton this year. Barcelona, Austria and possibly now Silverstone. Last year Rosberg had the measure of Hamilton at Silverstone, so it isn’t too outlandish to expect that Hamilton has no response to Rosberg’s pace here…

      • By nearly a second a lap ?
        🙂
        There was clearly something oddly wrong with Hamilton’s car yesterday, and it didn’t look like setup, as the team reportedly didn’t touch the car between his bringing it in complaining about handling and taking it back out again.
        Electronics ?

        Judging from Rosberg’s problems is morning, Mecedes are not completely on top of reliability.
        As for their drivers’ relative pace, I don’t think we’ll know until after qualifying. My token fiver is on Hamilton.

  8. Well, according to my numbers the Toro Rossos are fastest in race pace. Does anybody remember what tires were they using in comparison to the Mercedes and Ferraris?

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