FP2: Ferrari overtakes Mercedes in Sochi

Sebastian Vettel increased the pace in the second practice session of the Russian GP by completing a lap of the Sochi circuit in 1:34 on the ultra-soft tires. If his teammate Kimi Räikkönen is more than 120 tenths behind, the drivers Ferrari nevertheless dominated the day since the Mercedes de Valtteri Bottas et Lewis Hamilton failed by more than 6 tenths.

The Briton particularly seemed to be in difficulty on his car and the W08s set a slower pace than the SF70Hs on the long stints.

The Red Bull follow the two leading teams with Max Verstappen 5th, more than a second from the benchmark, preceding his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. The Dutchman was only able to complete 15 laps before stopping on the track with a mechanical problem.

Felipe Massa (Williams) follows in 7th place, being the first driver more than 2s from the reference, ahead Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) and the Force India of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon. Fernando Alonso (McLaren) is 12th ahead of Jolyon Palmer (Renault).

Romain Grosjean (Haas) finished the session in 14th place. Despite the change from Brembo brakes to Carbon Industries, the Frenchman still complained of problems with braking and an understeering car, which did not prevent him from spinning in the last turn. The tricolor pilot preceded Carlos Sainz Jr. (Toro Rosso) and Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) who will start from the back of the grid.

Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) finished 17th after also losing control of his car at the start of the session. Lance stroll (Williams) finished 19th between the Saubers of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson.

The final practice session for the Russian GP will be contested this Saturday, April 29 from 11 a.m. French time.

FP2 PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (90/90 MINS): @ScuderiaFerrari looking very strong #RussianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/3Og5VWi2k4

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 28th