Kvyat leads Mercedes-free top three

2015 Singapore Grand Prix second practice

Posted on

| Written by

Red Bull and Ferrari edged the Mercedes pair out of the top three in second practice at Singapore, led by Daniil Kvyat.

The Red Bull driver’s 1’46.142 on super-soft tyres was a third of a second quicker than either of the Mercedes driver managed. Lewis Hamilton locked up at turn one on his first lap on the softer rubber, running wide.

In the second half of the session Red Bull also showed strong pace over a long stint. Daniel Ricciardo carried out a long run on the super-soft tyres which his race engineer remarked showed “very good degradation” and favourable lap times compared to the silver cars.

Nico Rosberg slipped up in the final minutes of the session, skidding into the run-off area at turn 18 before rejoining. He ended the session in seventh, separated from his team mate by Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez – the latter troubled by a gearbox problem later in the session.

Fernando Alonso put his McLaren solidly into the top ten in one of their most promising performances of the season so far. He was followed by Nico Hulkenberg and Max Verstappen. Carlos Sainz Jnr in the other Toro Rosso picked up a puncture after glancing the barrier at turn five.

There were more problems for Manor: while Alexander Rossi returned to the track in the final half-hour following his crash in first practice, team mate Will Stevens lasted just two laps before also crashing his car.

Second practice visual gaps

Daniil Kvyat – 1’46.142

+0.039 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’46.181

+0.114 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’46.256

+0.337 Lewis Hamilton – 1’46.479

+0.345 Sebastian Vettel – 1’46.487

+0.517 Sergio Perez – 1’46.659

+0.639 Nico Rosberg – 1’46.781

+0.817 Fernando Alonso – 1’46.959

+1.152 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’47.294

+1.285 Max Verstappen – 1’47.427

+1.542 Felipe Massa – 1’47.684

+1.613 Felipe Nasr – 1’47.755

+1.653 Marcus Ericsson – 1’47.795

+1.746 Jenson Button – 1’47.888

+1.870 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’48.012

+1.954 Romain Grosjean – 1’48.096

+1.976 Valtteri Bottas – 1’48.118

+3.952 Pastor Maldonado – 1’50.094

+10.597 Alexander Rossi – 1’56.739

+13.790 Will Stevens – 1’59.932

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

23 comments on “Kvyat leads Mercedes-free top three”

  1. Can’t wait for tomorrow, lets see if the Mercs have been tamed for real in Qualy.

    The Redbull looks in good shape on Race pace and Qualy, Ferrari close by as well.

  2. I have not been that excited for a race weekend for a long time now. I’m very glad to see that we might get a real fight for pole tomorrow and possibly a great race. This has been too long now that we had barely any competition and now we get three (!) teams so close. Ahhh my hands are shaking)))) Gosh I missed that feeling so much.

    1. Also, a curious fact. For most races this year Kvyat has been finishing in the race in the place he had in FP2. =)

    2. Man, dont get so excited about quali. Looks like Mercedes has covered that well in the first pratice and used the second one to be well preprared to the race, splitting Lewis and Nico in different tests of set ups.

      Hope to see Sebastian at least next to them on race.

      1. Not so sure about that, the Merc’s were two seconds slower in FP1 than in FP2. They will have to get their cars to run consistently at the quicker times to stop the threat from Red Bull and Ferrari.

  3. So FP1 last time out they were ridiculously far ahead, FP2 this time out they’re beaten.

    Who is playing games?

  4. Looks like there is a small bug in the visual graphs software. Raikkonen appears to the left of Kvyat.

    Did Rosberg also have a troubled first lap on the option tyres?

    1. Must be the same feature that always gives Kimi a load of extra votes in the Driver of the Weekend polls.

      1. Yea, in formula E that popularity might worth extra power boost.

        1. Thank God, this is not Formula E.

    2. This css rule is missing:
      #daniilkvyat {
      margin-left: 0!important;
      }

  5. If Manor aren’t within 107% after Qualifying, they really don’t deserve to race, Q1 was shocking also

    1. Because both drivers made small mistakes? It’s a street circuit, it happens.

      1. @bezza695
        They were easily within 107% in FP1, with more than 1.5 seconds to spare. There’s no reason to exclude them, as they are capable of racing at the speed they’re required to by the rules. 6 seconds per lap may be a lot, but it’s too small a difference to be dangerous for the front-runners.

        1. Manor are probably focusing 100% on the qualifying so they are running their cars light all the time. If the 107% rule actually meant 107% instead of 110 because the top drivers are driving slowly in q1 manor would struggle to get in.

          But that’s what I’d do it too if I was just driving in circles in last last season’s car just to collect the participation ribbon money from bernie.

    2. ColdFly F1 ( @coldfly ) (@)
      18th September 2015, 16:19

      As you can read above both had an interrupted session due to crashes.
      In FP1 they were within the 107% thus no reason to get exited! @bezza695

  6. Mclaren within 0.8% of the top…

    That’s surely the closest they’ve been all year. OK it’s a street circuit short straights etc. but it’s still a good achievement and maybe will get rid of some of the people claiming the car is a complete failure.

    This is a car that they can work from for next year. I still have faith!

  7. Whatever that is what the Williams are trying, it seems that it’s not working… :(

    1. Bottas’ long run on the softs didn’t look that bad. Obviously they are behind Merc, Fer & RB. But they could still be best of the rest. Looks like McLaren are their main challenger + maybe FI as well.

  8. Hmm.. just as David Croft said:

    “Game On, ladies and gentlemen!” ;)

  9. Rossi outpacing Stevens pleases me. Hope he has a good debut.

    1. I wouldn’t read too much into that. Both were slower than Practice 1 where Stevens was ahead.

Comments are closed.