Spanish Grand Prix FP2: Nico Rosberg puts Mercedes on top in Barcelona

Nico Rosberg finished the Formula 1 second practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

The world championship leader’s time of 1m23.922s, which he set at the halfway stage of the 90-minute session, was fractionally faster than Sebastian Vettel had managed when he topped FP1 earlier in the day in Barcelona.

The Ferrari drivers had again been quickest during the early running in the second session before Rosberg moved to the top when the drivers began using the soft compound tyres.

Rosberg ended up 0.254s ahead of Raikkonen, with Lewis Hamilton third in the other Mercedes, 0.719s behind his teammate. Vettel wound up fourth quickest, 1.095s off Rosberg’s time.

Mercedes appears to be able to extract more time out of the soft tyre than Ferrari over a longer stint, judging by Rosberg’s times compared to Vettel during the long runs that the teams completed towards the end of the session.

Carlos Sainz was fifth quickest for Toro Rosso, the same position where he sensationally qualified in his home race in 2015, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo just been him in sixth and the other Spanish driver, Fernando Alonso, seventh fastest for McLaren.

Max Verstappen, who is attracting a lot of focus this weekend after his high-profile promotion to Red Bull in place of Daniil Kvyat, finished FP2 in eighth. The Dutchman was 1.4s behind Rosberg and his best time was just over two tenths slower than his former Toro Rosso teammate, Sainz.

Sergio Perez ran wide at Turn 9 early in the session and was forced to take a trip across the gravel trap on the exit of the fast right-hander. The Mexican driver finished the session in ninth, with his Force India teammate, Nico Hulkenberg, rounding out the top ten.

Valtteri Bottas was the top Williams driver in 11th, just ahead of Jenson Button. The McLaren driver was forced to coast down the pitlane when his engine stopped after 30 minutes but he was recovered to his garage and rejoined the running later on.

Romain Grosjean finished 13th for Haas F1, but the Frenchman was heard describing his car as “very, very difficult to drive” and then “undrivable” over his radio before he swore suggesting he and the team were making a mistake with the car’s setup.

Kevin Magnussen ended up 14th for Renault, just ahead of Kvyat, who was 15th on his return to Toro Rosso. The Russian had been 12th in FP1 for the team with which he drove in 2014.

Felipe Massa survived a wild sideways moment early on in the session aboard the second Williams, and he finished down in 16th.

Jolyon Palmer suffered a dramatic tyre failure on his left rear just ten minutes into the session. The Briton was able to maintain control of his Renault when the incident occurred at high speed on the approach to Turn 1, but he pulled off at the exit of the corner and brought out the red flags.

After his RS16 was recovered to the pits, Palmer was able to get out on the track again during the later stages and set the 17th fastest time.

Pascal Werhlein and Rio Haryanto were 18th and 19th for Manor, ahead of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr.

Esteban Gutierrez only completed nine laps for Haas F1 on his way to 21st and Marcus Ericsson brought up the rear of the field in the second Sauber.

Spanish Grand Prix FP2 results:

Pos

1 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes 1m23.922s, 35 laps

2 Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari +0.254s, 31 laps

3 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes +0.719s, 27 laps

4 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari +1.095s, 35 laps

5 Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso +1.209s, 39 laps

6 Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull +1.272s, 37 laps

7 Fernando Alonso, McLaren +1.420s, 31 laps

8 Max Verstappen, Red Bull +1.453s, 31 laps

9 Sergio Perez, Force India +1.515s, 32 laps

10 Nico Hulkenberg, Force India +1.531s, 35 laps

11 Valtteri Bottas, Williams +1.786s, 30 laps

12 Jenson Button, McLaren +1.971s, 20 laps

13 Romain Grosjean, Haas +1.977s, 33 laps

14 Kevin Magnussen, Renault +2.322s, 40 laps

15 Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso +2.453s, 44 laps

16 Felipe Massa, Williams +2.569s, 36 laps

17 Jolyon Palmer, Renault +2.848s, 16 laps

18 Pascal Wehrlein, Manor +3.038s, 40 laps

19 Rio Haryanto, Manor +3.330s, 39 laps

20 Felipe Nasr, Sauber +3.890s, 40 laps

21 Esteban Gutierrez, Haas +4.283s, 9 laps

22 Marcus Ericsson, Sauber +4.579s ,42 laps