Friday, October 31, 2014

Hamilton Fastest Again But Not Without a Scare

For the second consecutive practice session Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver but the championship leader's session was anything but easy. During the session the British driver was experiencing some problems while shifting, abbreviating his session to only 18 laps. Despite the problem, Hamilton's fastest lap was a 1:39.085. Three thousands back of Hamilton was his teammate Nico Rosberg. Rosberg was the only driver within a second of Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso was 1.104 seconds back of Hamilton in third with Daniel Ricciardo ending up fourth in the second session after an ERS issue in first practice. The Australian was just over two-tenths back of Alonso's Ferrari. Felipe Massa rounded out the top five just ahead of Kimi Räikkönen in sixth.

Daniil Kvyat was seventh with a lap of 1:40.641 seconds. The McLaren of Kevin Magnussen was only 0.010 seconds behind the Russian. Jenson Button followed his teammate on the time sheet, just 0.057 seconds back of the Dane. Nico Hülkenberg rounded out the top ten with a lap of 1:40.800 seconds.

Valtteri Bottas surprisingly outside the top ten. The Finn was 1.743 seconds back of Hamilton. Romain Grosjean jumped up to twelfth after being in the cellar in the first session. Jean-Éric Vergne was thirteenth, just 0.013 seconds ahead of Sergio Pérez. Pastor Maldonado rounded out the top fifteen. The Saubers of Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutiérrez were sixteenth and seventeenth. Sebastian Vettel was eighteenth in the session after having to change the gearbox early in the session. The German was able to get out on track and run nineteen laps. He was 4.895 seconds off of Hamilton's best time.

Third practice will take place tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. ET with qualifying taking place at 2:00 p.m. ET. NBC will show third practice taped at 1:00 p.m. ET with qualifying immediately following.