Nico Rosberg with Mercedes set the quickest time during the second practice session beneath the lights in Singapore, finishing 0.275 sek quicker than Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari.
Rosberg, who crashed earlier in the 1st free practice, clocked a time of 1:44.152 on the ultrasoft tyres. Max Verstappen led the way during the opening session but wound up third quickest, a tenth adrift of Raikkonen, with Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo fourth.
The Australian escaped a brush with the wall at Turn 11 and spun. But he was able to continue without damage. Sebastian Vettel finished the session fifth, a second behind Rosberg, and Force India’s Nico Hülkenberg in sixth position.
“It’s been a solid start to the weekend, said Rosberg. – Definitely better than last year. The first session was going okay until I hit the wall at Turn 18. That wasn’t ideal – but luckily the impact wasn’t too heavy, so I managed to get the car back to the pits and the guys had it ready in time for FP2. The second session felt better but we still have some room for improvement. It’s really close between ourselves.”
Problems for Hamilton
The World Champion Lewis Hamilton had a difficult session. He ended the FP2 in Singapore only 7th, and missed out on his race simulation due to a mechanical problem. Hamilton aborted his first attempt with ultrasoft after running off-track at Turn 1. And then he abandoned his next effort when he went wide at Turn 10. Lewis topped the timesheets during the initial runnings on the supersoft but he was unable to improve with the ultrasoft.
The Briton then encountered a small hydraulic issue during the early stages of his long run and he returned to the Mercedes garage. Mercedes confirmed that the issue could not be resolved in sufficient time, meaning Hamilton had to sit out the remainder of the session, completing only 10 laps in total.
Mclaren off the pace
Carlos Sainz finished eighth quickest, while McLaren’s Fernando Alonso survived a lurid moment at Turn 10 en-route to ninth. Alonso locked up and encountered a snap of oversteer, brushing the exit wall before continuing on his way. The Spaniard ended his day parked in the run-off area at Turn 16 when he halted his MP4-31 after the chequered flag due to gearbox issue. Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top 10 for Toro Rosso. He was ahead of Sergio Pérez and Jenson Button.
“Our expectations were quite high before coming here. Although, to be fair, I’d said beforehand that there are circuits coming up that should suit us better than Singapore, explained Alonso. – We’ll have to fight to get into Q3 tomorrow because I think Force India and Toro Rosso. Both look pretty strong around here. Hopefully we can find a couple of tenths overnight so as to battle them for the final three or four top-10 positions in qualifying though. Our biggest problem is an overall deficit of grip – we need to find a bit more downforce for tomorrow
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF #FP2)
ROS and RAI turn the tables on the Red Bulls #SingaporeGP ?? pic.twitter.com/DKgqWnPdGW
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 16, 2016
