Ricciardo stays ahead as Vettel slips up

2017 Singapore Grand Prix second practice

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Daniel Ricciardo maintained his advantage in the second practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix. Having set a new track record during the morning session he lowered it to 1’40.852, leaving him half a second clear of team mate Max Verstappen.

However an error by Sebastian Vettel meant Ferrari didn’t reveal their full potential. He set the quickest time in the first sector at one point but clipped the wall at turn ten and had to pit.

While all the other drivers set their quickest time on the ultras-soft tyres, Vettel did his on softs and ended the session outside the top ten.

The Mercedes pair got closest to the two Red Bulls but Lewis Hamilton was seven-tenths off Ricciardo’s benchmark. The top five was completed by Nico Hulkenberg, though the Renault driver had to pit before the end of the session with an unspecified problem.

The two McLarens were next, Singapore newcomer Stoffel Vandoorne ahead of Fernando Alonso, the latter being another of several drivers who brushed the wall during the 90 minutes.

Both Force Indias appeared in the top ten, separated by Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari. Carlos Sainz Jnr finished behind Vettel after twice going off into the turn 18 run-off.

Romain Grosjean endured a troubled session which included a couple of spins. He ended up 18th ahead of the two Saubers.

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’40.852 33
2 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’41.408 0.556 28
3 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’41.555 0.703 36
4 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1’42.104 1.252 35
5 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1’42.448 1.596 33
6 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Honda 1’42.501 1.649 34
7 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1’42.788 1.936 32
8 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’42.826 1.974 35
9 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’42.835 1.983 30
10 31 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 1’43.054 2.202 34
11 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’43.104 2.252 33
12 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso-Renault 1’43.236 2.384 38
13 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1’43.608 2.756 32
14 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1’43.795 2.943 32
15 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’43.836 2.984 32
16 18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 1’44.301 3.449 32
17 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1’44.417 3.565 32
18 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1’44.928 4.076 29
19 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber-Ferrari 1’45.673 4.821 34
20 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1’45.721 4.869 35

Second practice visual gaps

Daniel Ricciardo – 1’40.852

+0.556 Max Verstappen – 1’41.408

+0.703 Lewis Hamilton – 1’41.555

+1.252 Valtteri Bottas – 1’42.104

+1.596 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’42.448

+1.649 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’42.501

+1.936 Fernando Alonso – 1’42.788

+1.974 Sergio Perez – 1’42.826

+1.983 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’42.835

+2.202 Esteban Ocon – 1’43.054

+2.252 Sebastian Vettel – 1’43.104

+2.384 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’43.236

+2.756 Daniil Kvyat – 1’43.608

+2.943 Jolyon Palmer – 1’43.795

+2.984 Felipe Massa – 1’43.836

+3.449 Lance Stroll – 1’44.301

+3.565 Kevin Magnussen – 1’44.417

+4.076 Romain Grosjean – 1’44.928

+4.821 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’45.673

+4.869 Marcus Ericsson – 1’45.721

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

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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...

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13 comments on “Ricciardo stays ahead as Vettel slips up”

  1. A 2-second improvement from FP1 to FP2. That’s a lot considering the usual standards from circuit to circuit.

    1. Well spotted, the times are like day and night.

      1. @jerejj @hunocsi It is a lot, but it’s typical for Singapore. It was actually a 1.6s gain which is the same as last year.

      2. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
        15th September 2017, 15:01

        very good @hunocsi

  2. Helmut Marko just said on German TV that Dan Rickie was looking into going to Renault… he seemed really interested but decided to stay after all, so Sainz will be going.

    1. @magon4 and Autosport just report that Renault want RIC at first but settle with SAI. I believe on Marko more than Abiteboul.

  3. Red Bull looking strong, but then again, they did in Hungary as well and ended up 5th and 6th on the grid. Vettel will be hoping to win the race, with Raikkonen and the two Red Bulls getting ahead of Hamilton. The race may not be very exciting racing wise, but for some reason I always love watching races about Singapore; there’s just something very satisfying about seeing cars on the limit over the kerbs and bumps, and they look more on-the-limit than on any other racetrack (more so than Monaco imo)

    1. *races in Singapore.

  4. Ferrari really not showing up thus far, especially not Raikkonen… Interesting.

    1. @hugh11 FP2 long runs were a different story from the average lap times, Raikkonen was just a bit faster than Hamilton, and both away from the Red Bulls. Bottas was way off, he seems to be really struggling so far this weekend. I didn’t see the data for Vettel yet.

      1. I haven’t seen the data for Vettel yet. iOS auto correct on bad typing!

      2. @ju88sy, from the initial reports, it seems as if Vettel was slightly slower than Hamilton during the race simulations as Vettel wasn’t entirely happy with the handling balance of his car following a few set up tweaks in FP2.

    2. @hugh11 I don’t think Raikonnen has shown up for this season

Comments are closed.