Mexico-EL2: Vettel ahead of Mercedes

Already in contact with Lewis Hamilton at the end of EL1 in Mexico City, Sebastian Vettel raised his level again this evening during the second driving session this Friday at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Except that unlike the first free practice session, where the driver Ferrari had approached the Mercedes W07 Hybrid n°44 with softer rubbers, it is on an identical compound (super-soft rubbers) that the old pilot Red Bull set his best time in 1'19″790, four thousandths better than Hamilton.

However, the super-soft tires, like the softs, were once again hit by strong degradation and a significant graining phenomenon. Nico Rosberg completes the top three with the second Mercedes, but more than four tenths behind his teammate.

Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) follows in front of the first Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo. Nico Hulkenberg lifts his Force India into sixth position, after setting his best time on soft tires, just like his teammate Sergio Pérez, ranked 15th, the only two drivers to have achieved their benchmark on this compound.

Max Verstappen (Red Bull) finished 7th ahead Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren). Eleventh, Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) was however forced to stop his STR11 at the side of the track at the very end of the session, after reporting a loss of power with the Ferrari Power Unit.

Difficult finish to # FP2 for @Dany_Kvyat

He parks after losing power, with smoke coming from his car#MexicoGP # FP2 pic.twitter.com/1lCbqjn5V0

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 28, 2016

Jenson Button (McLaren) concludes his first Mexican day in 12th place ahead of Felipe Massa (Williams) and the first Renault de Kevin Magnussen. The ranking is completed by Romain Grosjean (Haas), 20th after having had a shortened session due to a likely electrical problem on his VF16. The Frenchman precedes his compatriot Esteban Ocon (Manor) and Esteban Gutiérrez (Haas).

Results Free Trials 2