Lewis Hamilton established a new track record for the Yas Marina circuit in second practice, beating the previous best time he set six years ago.
When the chequered flag fell on the session Sebastian Vettel was just 0.149s slower than Hamilton on the same ultra-soft tyres, with Ricciardo a similar gap back.
Valtteri Bottas, who did his qualifying simulation run shortly before his team mate, was around two-thirds of a second slower. There was a similar gap between the Red Bull pair, Max Verstappen ending the session in sixth place.
The Force India pair were next-quickest, Esteban Ocon just one-hundredth of a second slower than Sergio Perez despite sitting out the first practice session. Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso completed the top ten.
Stoffel Vandoorne was 12th-fastest in the other McLaren, despite a high-speed spin at turn 20 early in the session. He was fractionally slower than Felipe Massa, the quicker of the two Williams drivers.
It was another trying Friday for Romain Grosjean who ended the session with the slowest time after a spin. He was also accused of holding up Ricciardo during one of the Red Bull driver’s first quick laps.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’37.877 | 39 | |
| 2 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’38.026 | 0.149 | 36 |
| 3 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’38.180 | 0.303 | 33 |
| 4 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’38.352 | 0.475 | 35 |
| 5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’38.537 | 0.660 | 33 |
| 6 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’38.894 | 1.017 | 33 |
| 7 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’39.323 | 1.446 | 33 |
| 8 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’39.333 | 1.456 | 36 |
| 9 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’39.529 | 1.652 | 41 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’39.559 | 1.682 | 28 |
| 11 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’39.635 | 1.758 | 36 |
| 12 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’39.671 | 1.794 | 31 |
| 13 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’40.201 | 2.324 | 38 |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’40.329 | 2.452 | 30 |
| 15 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’40.694 | 2.817 | 39 |
| 16 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’41.128 | 3.251 | 31 |
| 17 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’41.270 | 3.393 | 43 |
| 18 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’41.302 | 3.425 | 40 |
| 19 | 28 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’41.496 | 3.619 | 39 |
| 20 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’41.560 | 3.683 | 12 |
Second practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’37.877
+0.149 Sebastian Vettel – 1’38.026
+0.303 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’38.180
+0.475 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’38.352
+0.660 Valtteri Bottas – 1’38.537
+1.017 Max Verstappen – 1’38.894
+1.446 Sergio Perez – 1’39.323
+1.456 Esteban Ocon – 1’39.333
+1.652 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’39.529
+1.682 Fernando Alonso – 1’39.559
+1.758 Felipe Massa – 1’39.635
+1.794 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’39.671
+2.324 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’40.201
+2.452 Lance Stroll – 1’40.329
+2.817 Pierre Gasly – 1’40.694
+3.251 Kevin Magnussen – 1’41.128
+3.393 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’41.270
+3.425 Marcus Ericsson – 1’41.302
+3.619 Brendon Hartley – 1’41.496
+3.683 Romain Grosjean – 1’41.560
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Best times by tyre
| Driver | Team | Best ultra-soft time | Ultra-soft gap | Best super-soft time | Super-soft gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’37.877 | 1’38.912 | ||
| Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’38.537 | 0.66 | 1’39.758 | 0.846 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1’38.180 | 0.303 | 1’39.346 | 0.434 |
| Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’38.894 | 1.017 | 1’40.089 | 1.177 |
| Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’38.026 | 0.149 | 1’39.761 | 0.849 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’38.352 | 0.475 | 1’39.790 | 0.878 |
| Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’39.323 | 1.446 | 1’40.553 | 1.641 |
| Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1’39.333 | 1.456 | 1’41.056 | 2.144 |
| Felipe Massa | Williams | 1’39.635 | 1.758 | 1’41.665 | 2.753 |
| Lance Stroll | Williams | 1’40.329 | 2.452 | None | |
| Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1’39.559 | 1.682 | 1’40.804 | 1.892 |
| Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1’39.671 | 1.794 | None | |
| Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 1’41.496 | 3.619 | 1’42.616 | 3.704 |
| Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | 1’40.869 | 2.992 | 1’40.694 | 1.782 |
| Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1’41.730 | 3.853 | 1’41.560 | 2.648 |
| Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1’41.128 | 3.251 | 1’42.206 | 3.294 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’39.529 | 1.652 | 1’41.259 | 2.347 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’40.201 | 2.324 | 1’40.973 | 2.061 |
| Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1’41.302 | 3.425 | 1’42.149 | 3.237 |
| Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 1’41.270 | 3.393 | 1’42.029 | 3.117 |
GZImmerman
24th November 2017, 14:41
1.5sec is the gap to reach top 3? It seems an aby$$.
markp
24th November 2017, 15:31
top 3 drivers from a team outside the top3 teams? The slowest of the top 3 teams drivers is only 0.5 ahead of Perez.
Mamba (@mamba)
24th November 2017, 14:54
Hamilton fastest – Hamilton breaks track record.
Vettel fastest with similar gap – Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull covered by a tenth.
It’s practise guys! Stop hyping things up just yet and these articles could do with less fan boyish titles. Things can turn out very different on Sunday.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
24th November 2017, 15:40
@mamba I don’t understand your objection at all.
This sport is about the pursuit of speed, among other things. Hamilton broke the track record today. How can you possibly suggest that is not newsworthy?
Mamba (@mamba)
24th November 2017, 16:10
@keithcollantine four cars broke the original lap record today. To me singling out just one of them seems to be a bit biased. Yes Hamilton was the fastest but as with FP1 things are very tight at the top. The title to me just seemed a bit too biased to the events that occurred. I’m sorry if my comment was taken offensive – I clearly was a bit hot headed at the time so could certainly have phrased things much better. Please accept my apologies. I just wanted to point out the fact that things are very close with four cars breaking the lap record and not just one as the title would suggest.
JC
24th November 2017, 16:34
The new track record should be the headline (especially as the driver in question was the previous record holder)? Did you not read the rest?
Lewis Hamilton established a new track record for the Yas Marina circuit in second practice, beating the previous best time he set six years ago.
But Ferrari and Red Bull weren’t far off the pace of the Mercedes. Both the red cars lapped under Hamilton’s 2011 time of 1’38.434 and Daniel Ricciardo was inside it as well.
Baron (@baron)
24th November 2017, 21:21
@mamba That’s funny.. The headline is probably the least “fan boyish” in the entire F1 media mate….
Knight
25th November 2017, 5:13
You’re wright but bias in most media towards Hamilton is so ridiculous sometimrs that you take your frustration out on the wrong people.
nickfrog (@nickfrog)
24th November 2017, 15:37
Loving the Perez-Ocon delta, basically nothing between them.
sethje (@seth-space)
24th November 2017, 16:20
Any information about the rear problems Verstappen’s RB13 had? He complained about his rear tires, the engineers spent a lot of time on the rear section of the RB13 but i do not see any info .
He was off pace by a considerable margin. Compared with his first FP performance remarkable.
Zad (@)
25th November 2017, 14:04
bottas dethroned hamilton with a staggering show of speed.
turned out to be a short record by hamilton after all :-)