Vettel quickest but session ends early after Grosjean crash

Sebastian Vettel was emphatically fastest in second practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix but the main talking point was a crash which brought the session to an end.

Charles Leclerc, Sauber, Sepang International Circuit, 2017 — **Malaysian Grand Prix practice in pictures**

There was 20 minutes left to run when Romain Grosjean struck a drain cover at turn 12 which appeared to have been raised by a previous car. The impact tore Grosjean’s right-rear tyre apart and sent him spinning into the barrier.

Practice was immediately red-flagged while race director Charlie Whiting attended the scene to investigate the cause of the crash. The session was not restarted.

The Ferrari pair finished the session in first and second places with Vettel over six-tenths of a second clear of Kimi Raikkonen. The Mercedes drivers struggled and both ended up 1.4 seconds off the pace, the pair complaining of a general lack of grip and both going off the track at points.

They were outpaced by the two Red Bull drivers, who set similar times to within a hundredth of a second after Max Verstappen did an extra run on a used set of super-soft tyres.

Fernando Alonso raised eyebrows by also beating the Mercedes pair in his McLaren. The two Force Indias and Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault completed the top ten.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1’31.261		23
2	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1’31.865	0.604	19
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1’32.099	0.838	19
4	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1’32.109	0.848	11
5	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	1’32.564	1.303	14
6	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’32.677	1.416	15
7	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1’32.720	1.459	21
8	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1’32.862	1.601	20
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1’33.060	1.799	24
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	1’33.096	1.835	24
11	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1’33.381	2.120	26
12	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1’33.394	2.133	20
13	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Honda	1’33.673	2.412	15
14	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1’33.818	2.557	16
15	10	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso-Renault	1’34.043	2.782	22
16	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Toro Rosso-Renault	1’34.104	2.843	19
17	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1’34.118	2.857	18
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’34.343	3.082	17
19	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber-Ferrari	1’35.246	3.985	29
20	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1’35.697	4.436	27

Second practice visual gaps

Sebastian Vettel – 1’31.261

+0.604 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’31.865

+0.838 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’32.099

+0.848 Max Verstappen – 1’32.109

+1.303 Fernando Alonso – 1’32.564

+1.416 Lewis Hamilton – 1’32.677

+1.459 Valtteri Bottas – 1’32.720

+1.601 Sergio Perez – 1’32.862

+1.799 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’33.060

+1.835 Esteban Ocon – 1’33.096

+2.120 Jolyon Palmer – 1’33.381

+2.133 Felipe Massa – 1’33.394

+2.412 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’33.673

+2.557 Lance Stroll – 1’33.818

+2.782 Pierre Gasly – 1’34.043

+2.843 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’34.104

+2.857 Romain Grosjean – 1’34.118

+3.082 Kevin Magnussen – 1’34.343

+3.985 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’35.246

+4.436 Marcus Ericsson – 1’35.697

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

2017 Malaysian Grand Prix

Browse all 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix articles

2017 F1 practice sessions

Browse all 2017 F1 practice results

25 comments on “Second practice abandoned after drain causes Grosjean crash”

Hugh (@hugh11)
29th September 2017, 9:13

That was a very worrying incident. Really hope that they can fix that. Also, holy wow Alonso, and Mercedes looking surprisingly poor.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
29th September 2017, 9:23

Mercedes looking just as poor as this championship needs them to. Here’s hoping Ferrari can maintain the advantage going into qualifying tomorrow. We know Mercedes can advance up the field during qualifying, no doubt.
1. Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
  29th September 2017, 9:24
  
  Also, if “general lack of grip” puts them P6 and P7, imagine how bad the Haas or Sauber cars feel to drive!
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
29th September 2017, 9:28

Here’s hoping Red Bull can stay ahead of Mercedes and keep this championship interesting
Sumedh
29th September 2017, 9:29

So if McLaren is this fast on a track like Sepang, is it still a problem of the engine and engine performance alone?
1. Alex W
  29th September 2017, 10:16
  
  its still a very strong aero track, see Red bulls last year too.
2. Joao (@johnmilk)
  29th September 2017, 10:17
  
  I wouldn’t be surprised if the others aren’t yet to show their true pace.
  1. JohnH (@johnrkh)
    29th September 2017, 14:05
    
    True, Hamilton seemed to find extra in Singapore.
Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
29th September 2017, 9:32

I mean,how difficult is to fix all drain covers…I can get it a bit in a street circuit(like Monaco last year) but its F1 in the end!!Those things should have been done pretty fast & without any problem.Its pretty unacceptable IMO
1. Nick Wyatt (@nickwyatt)
  29th September 2017, 11:07
  
  This seems a bit of an odd one. On a street circuit the drain and manhole covers are normally welded shut so that the ‘sticky’ tyres can’t lift them up. But this is a permanent circuit and the track was wet (as I understand) so I think there may have been another kind of failure.
Ylli Beli (@yllib)
29th September 2017, 9:38

So, where are the guys that said that the championship is over? :P
1. pSynrg (@psynrg)
  29th September 2017, 11:41
  
  @yllib Probably hanging out at the same place as those who predict the outcome of a race or championship from Friday practice results.
  1. Ylli Beli (@yllib)
    29th September 2017, 13:06
    
    @psynrg. I didnt make any prediction, however there is no denying that ferrari peace looks strong. Even Horner admited that they were expecting Merc to lead and Red Bull to be closer to Ferrari
2. Paul's dad.
  29th September 2017, 13:53
  
  Some of us are still here, hating ourselves for still giving a damn -_-
  Although, to be fair (to myself), this weekend and the next are probably gonna be fairly exciting.
3. mystic one (@mysticus)
  30th September 2017, 14:04
  
  @yllib
  
  tomorrow is not over yet :) i wonder where will you be after tomorrow? :)
Sharlow
29th September 2017, 9:46

Here there is the video of the incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODcGKldL6tA
1. Ylli Beli (@yllib)
  29th September 2017, 10:12
  
  there’s no video..
2. Nikhil Patel (@tiya)
  29th September 2017, 10:15
  
  Wow that shocking, scary stuff indeed.
Dulin
29th September 2017, 10:44

now I see why Toro gave Sainz to Renault ;)
1. erikje
  29th September 2017, 12:53
  
  strong debut for gasly.. and a wake up call for carlos.
2. Shimks (@shimks)
  29th September 2017, 13:02
  
  Yeah, that’s pretty exciting!
stefano (@alfa145)
29th September 2017, 13:41

I’ve got the terrible feeling that Alonso and McLaren misjudged terribly again their engine choice and abandoned Honda just minutes before they would pull their act together. I’ve been repeating this for months now, where besides unreliability and bad performance, sparks of progress were hidden here ans there. I don’t know. I don’t even know what to hope for.
1. Matthew Nowell (@diogenese)
  29th September 2017, 18:24
  
  Next year’s Renault engine will be very different, with all the insider info they are about to get!
f12007v (@f1fan-2000)
29th September 2017, 15:00

Seems like Mercedes still got complacent with their points lead and let their guard down, despite saying they won’t change their approach.
1. Martin
  29th September 2017, 20:39
  
  They didn’t