Mercedes remained on top during the second practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix but this time is was Lewis Hamilton who led the way.
Nico Rosberg took three attempts to get within four-tenths of a second of his team mate, as the two W05s were the only cars to lap the Red Bull Ring in under 70 seconds.
However the gap between the silver cars and their rivals widened considerably in the afternoon session. Fernando Alonso was third-quickest for Ferrari, over nine-tenths of a second off Hamilton’s pace.
The Williams pair were close behind, Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa within five-hundredths of a second of the Ferrari. Red Bull enjoyed a better second session at their home track, with Sebastian Vettel in sixth place and Daniel Ricciardo eighth.
A rain shower briefly threatened the final minutes of the session while the drivers were completing their race simulations. But while stronger winds briefly made for challenging conditions the track stayed dry.
2014 Austrian Grand Prix
- Bottas wins Driver of the Weekend after first podium
- F1’s return to Austria produced a middling race
- 2014 Austrian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix
- Vote for your 2014 Austrian GP Driver of the Weekend
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
Ciaran (@ciaran)
20th June 2014, 14:36
So after months and months of god-awful complaining about how the new engine formula is terrible, etc etc, the Mercedes guys are within 2 seconds of the V10 lap record. That’s one hell of an achievement given how restrictive the tech regulations have become in the last decade.
Also it’s great to see Marussia slowly become more and more competitive, I can’t shake the thought that they might be battling in the midfield by the end of the season!
Lorenzo
20th June 2014, 14:40
And they are going to lower that laptime a lot till tomorrow qualify.
I expect a 1.08.6-1.08.7 for pole.
Sam Andrew
20th June 2014, 15:24
I think the pole time will be a 1.07
Corrado (@)
20th June 2014, 16:42
I expect a 1.06s !
Michael C
20th June 2014, 17:33
No chance. Even a 1:07 is optimistic (but possible if Hamilton does “the lap”)
sato113 (@sato113)
20th June 2014, 14:58
2 seconds is a lot in f1 though. Also are you referring to the backmarker v10 cars or the v10 front runners?
Ivan (@wpinrui)
20th June 2014, 15:04
Front runners – the fastest lap in 2003 was a 1:07.908 by MSC in the Ferrari
Patrick (@paeschli)
20th June 2014, 15:09
On Wikipedia it says 1:08.337 …?
W-K (@w-k)
20th June 2014, 15:44
The 1:07.908 time was in Friday qualifying, they had two qualifying sessions back then.
The 1:08.337 time was fastest lap during the race.
toiago (@toiago)
20th June 2014, 15:06
Front runners I would imagine. The fastest lap ever recorded on this layout was a 1.08.337 set by Schumacher in 2003.
gdewilde (@gdewilde)
20th June 2014, 15:33
I think the fastest time ever was a 1:08.082. The pole position lap from Rubens Barrichello in 2002
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
20th June 2014, 15:05
@ciaran
You forget how much the cars were improved aerodynamically. I Remember Vettel breaking the track record in Albert Part and Hungaroring despite being down on power compared to the V10 powered cars
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
20th June 2014, 15:14
I agree that given the restraints of the regulations, the performance from these cars is truly impressive. I am getting fed up though, with a difference of opinion being regularly referred to as ‘god awful complaining’, ‘moaning’ whining’ etc. So, some of us don’t like the 2014 engines. For me, it is not about performance, I would WAY rather have a racing car with much more power then grip, and I think ultimate lap times are almost irrelevant really. The lack of noise though, for many of we ‘purists’, is unforgivable. But it is not ‘moaning’, it is an opinion.
Theoddkiwi (@theoddkiwi)
20th June 2014, 15:30
Does me liking the new engine formula make me impure?
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
20th June 2014, 15:48
Not all if you are just watching on TV.
JimG (@jimg)
20th June 2014, 15:34
@paulguitar: Funnily enough, for many of we “purists” racing is more about the speed than the noise. You know, fastest driver wins, not loudest driver. But that’s just my opinion ;-)
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
20th June 2014, 15:47
Have you been to a race this year though? I think you might find that suddenly you consider the noise very important, now that is has all but gone.
kpcart
20th June 2014, 15:20
you are talking of a record approx. 10 year ago. it would probably be 5 seconds a lap faster last year if the f1 cars drove recently. you are also missing the point, the new engine formula is terrible for the lack of sound quality, and that engine homologation was so early, locking in mercedes early advantage in the formula, which makes for a dull season of predictable results.
Ciaran (@ciaran)
20th June 2014, 15:31
If you say Mercedes’ domination is down to the engine homologation, then how do you explain McLaren, Force India and Williams – all of whom run identical Merc engines – not being able to match their pace?
Phillip Borja (@phillipborja)
20th June 2014, 16:17
2014 cars can generally compete with v10 cars on these kinds of track layouts. long straights with not so much high speed corners. meaning stop start tracks.
Kim Philby (@philby)
20th June 2014, 16:43
2014 spec cars don’t seem too slow on this track simply because they stopped racing there in 2003. In 2004 they were on average 2.5 secs faster in qualifying, given that this is a short track I’d say that compared to the 1.07.908 in 2003 in 2004 we would see a low 1.06 time.
frood19 (@frood19)
20th June 2014, 16:45
it’s a short lap so the differences are diminished. also, it’s a power circuit so you would expect the turbos to compare well. however, 1 second gap to alonso is staggering.
Corrado (@)
20th June 2014, 17:03
Exactly. Actually, this is biggest wonder: short track, but the gap is still ~1 second !
Corrado (@)
20th June 2014, 17:00
You’re right, but can’t remember if they had SuperSofts back then. Also, the track length is like short… so expect small differences.
Garns (@)
20th June 2014, 14:37
Red Bull pretty slow Keith & they obviously weren’t doing long runs all day- any major issue or just that far off the pace in terms of power??
Damonw
20th June 2014, 14:56
Redbull always tend to run heavy in practice whereas Ferrari do the opposite.
I expect Ricciardo and Vettel to be within 7 tenths of the Mercedes in quallifying.
nidzovski (@nidzovski)
20th June 2014, 15:18
I guess we’ll need another problem from Mercedes cars to level the field again. 160 HP down on power in Canada and if the brakes were OK it wouldn’t be enough still.
Peter Hunter (@holdenv8)
20th June 2014, 15:23
Massa’s Williams-Mercedes was again the thing to have in a straight line in Practice 2, trapping at 318.3 km/h (197.8 mp/h). Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso was the fastest Renault car at 316 km/h (196.4 mp/h), 4.6 km/h faster than Vettel and 6.1 faster than Ricciardo. Fastest Ferrari was Alonso at 315.3 km/h (195.9 mp/h).
Maldanardo’s Lotus-Renault was again the slowest at 306.8 km/h (190.6 mp/h).
Garns (@)
20th June 2014, 15:28
The 2013 Mercedes must be comparable to the 1988 McLaren (MP-4 I think) in terms of sheer domination!!
The only one McLaren dropped in 88 was when Senna was T-boned by a back marker a few laps out at Monza!
Canada an issue for them (great for us Dan Fans) but the Mercs are just awesome!! Sweet for us the drivers are allowed to race and its gonna be a good finish!! Go Nico!!
Peter Hunter (@holdenv8)
20th June 2014, 15:45
A comparison of the fastest times between 2014 and the last Friday practice at an Austrian GP at the then A1 Ring:
2003 – David Coulthard, McLaren MP4-17D Mercedes (3.0L V10) – 1:08.836
2014 – Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W05 Hybrid (1.6L V6 turbo) – 1:09.542
For those racing in 2014 who were there in 2003:
Fernando Alonso
2003 – Renault R23 – 1:09.071
2014 – Ferrari F14 T – 1:10.470
Jenson Button
2003 – BAR 005 Honda – 1:09.374
2014 – McLaren MP4-29 Mercedes – 1’10.813
Kimi Räikkönen
2003 – McLaren MP4-17D Mercedes – 1:10.019
2014 – Ferrari F14 T – 1’10.974
Pole in 2003 was set by Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari F2002 with a time of 1:09.150. Back in 2003 Friday also included a qualifying session in which Schumacher recorded a 1:07.908 (I must be forgetting something as I can’t see why Michael’s Saturday time was credited as pole when it was slower than his Friday time).
Edvaldo
20th June 2014, 17:29
He set the pole time carrying the fuel for the first stint of the race.
And on Austria the car was already the F2003GA. F2002 raced until San Marino.
mike-e (@mike-e)
21st June 2014, 1:47
Because the single lap friday qualifying was only to determin the order you went out for the saturday single lap shootout (fastest on friday went out last on saturday)
Peter Hunter (@holdenv8)
21st June 2014, 4:15
Thanks guys. I forgot about all of that. There have been so many changes to the way F1 does qualifying over the years its hard to keep up sometimes.
Chris Brighton
20th June 2014, 16:58
But Hamilton reported a loss of power in P2. Rosberg in P1. This is worrying me for the rest of the weekend!
Damonw
20th June 2014, 18:49
Just imagine what the 2004-2005 cars would do around here with slicks and in this qualifying format. The 2014 cars would be like a milk float compared to them.