SOCHI: Championship leader Lewis Hamilton put aside his concerns for Jules Bianchi and produced a dazzling lap to top the times in Friday’s second free practice session ahead of this weekend’s inaugural Russian Grand Prix.
The 29-year-old Briton, who was second fastest behind his Mercedes team-mate and title rival German Nico Rosberg in the morning’s opening session, wound up quickest in the afternoon with a dominant lap in one minute and 39.630 seconds.
This was eight-tenths of a second faster than the chasing pack led by Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen of McLaren and made Hamilton the only man to break the 1:40 barrier at the newly built track in the Olympic Park close to the Black Sea resort.
“It wasn’t easy to get into the car this morning,” he said, referring to his and the paddock’s sombre mood and feelings for injured Frenchman Bianchi, who remained in intensive care in hospital in Japan. “But this afternoon, I felt more comfortable.”
Two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso was third for Ferrari ahead of Rosberg, Finn Valtteri Bottas of Williams and Briton Jenson Button in the second McLaren.
Five days after Bianchi’s shocking accident at the rain-lashed Japanese Grand Prix, where he suffered severe head injuries when his Marussia car collided with a recovery vehicle, all of the drivers wore ‘Tous Avec Jules’ stickers on their helmets in support of the absent Frenchman.
Bianchi, 25, remained in intensive care in hospital in Yokkaichi and his Marussia team chose not to run a second driver in his place at Sochi in a sign of respect as he battles for his life in Japan.
“Of course, it is tough,” added Hamilton. “But it was good. It felt good and the grip improved as the track ‘rubbered’ in. The car felt good today and for me the track had a nice flow. I really enjoyed it.”
Brazilian Felipe Massa, who had described last Sunday’s Japanese event as “the worst race of my life”, was seventh in the second Williams ahead of Red Bull-bound local hero Russian Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso and the man he is due to replace, four-time champion German Sebastian Vettel.
Job-hunting Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne was 10th for Toro Rosso, turning in another impressive day’s work as he seeks a new seat for 2015 after being released by his current outfit.
The session was interrupted with seven minutes remaining when Australian Daniel Ricciardo suffered an engine failure on his Red Bull car. He finished 13th.
Bottas also survived an extraordinary early setback before recovering to finish up fifth fastest for Williams.
The tyres on the Finn’s car burst during the morning’s opening practice session due to a malfunction with the use of tyre ‘blankets’.
He said: “It’s the first time that’s happened, but I suppose those things can happen.
“It didn’t hurt, as a whole day, as I still got a lot of laps in FP2.
“In fact we drove more in that session because of the problems in the morning and we completed the same number of laps for the whole day as planned.
“But I think we still need to investigate it a bit more.”
Team-mate Massa had a more straightforward day and finished seventh.
“I think it was a good Friday for us,” Massa said. “The car showed to be competitive, showed to be consistent, I was pretty happy with the balance.”
0 komentar:
Post a Comment