Lewis Hamilton extended his advantage over Nico Rosberg to 0.7s as his team-mate stopped on track during FP2 for the Grand Prix of Europe.
Mercedes enjoyed a clear advantage over its main rivals in the second practice session with Hamilton and Rosberg the only two drivers to get under the 1m45s mark. Having been quickest in FP1, Hamilton set the pace with a 1:44.223 in the afternoon, beating Rosberg by 0.690s.
Rosberg was on his long run when he lost drive in fourth gear exiting Turn 16 and was told to stop by his team. While it was a relatively straight run to the pits, Rosberg would have been travelling very slowly on a high speed section and so parked his car at Turn 18.
Kimi Raikkonen’s session also ended early as he went straight on at Turn 4 and climbed out of his Ferrari. The incident appeared to be caused by some form of problem as there was a jolt before Raikkonen’s rear tyres locked, with the Finn doing well to keep the car out of the wall.
Ferrari had not been competitive in the session as Raikkonen finished in 13th place, five positions behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Vettel was two seconds off the pace and he too had a problem late on as he was told to slow down and return to the pits. Ferrari confirmed to Vettel that it was an MGU-K problem which had slowed him, with Raikkonen suffering the same issue.
It was Sergio Perez in the Force India who was closes to the Mercedes pair, finishing FP2 third quickest but 1.1s slower than Hamilton. Perez was 0.4s quicker than Valtteri Bottas and over half a second ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg as Mercedes-powered teams dominated the top five.
Carlos Sainz was the first non-Mercedes car in sixth despite running a 2015-spec Ferrari power unit, with Max Verstappen seventh ahead of Vettel, Jenson Button and Daniel Ricciardo.
Red Bull had done well to get Ricciardo back out on track after his FP1 accident, and the closest anyone came to suffering damage in FP2 was Esteban Gutierrez who wiped some Pirelli advertising off the barrier at Turn 8 with his front right tyre.
While the 6.003km circuit led to a large field spread, there were encouraging signs for Manor as Rio Haryanto ended the session 18th quickest, just 0.1s off Kevin Magnussen’s Renault and ahead of both Saubers, Jolyon Palmer and team-mate Pascal Wehrlein.
It was another session full of small errors as track temperatures dropped amid overcast conditions, with no fewer than seven drivers going off at Turn 1. Sainz was the most dramatic of the lot, losing the rear of his Toro Rosso and spinning under braking.
Turn 3 again saw a number of drivers running straight on, while Sainz also twice ran up the escape road at Turn 8 without sustaining damage.
The second session took place on time despite concerns regarding the kerbing on the Baku City Circuit, with FIA race director Charlie Whiting demanding changes to the kerbs after 90% of the left rear tyres were damaged in FP1. While drivers were advised to stay off the exit kerb at Turn 6 – where pictures showed the final part of the kerb to be loose – there were no other obvious issues.
AS IT HAPPENED: Grand Prix of Europe FP2
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