Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the second practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix, with the top four cars on the timesheet separated by 0.108 seconds.
Rain was forecasted for the session but only arrived at the circuit within the final 10 minutes, curtailing the teams long run work but not affecting the qualifying simulations.
With Kimi Raikkonen having been fastest on the soft tyre at the start of the session, Hamilton’s 1m33.482s lap on the ultrasoft rubber vaulted him to the top of the timesheet.
Raikkonen recorded a faster time in the second sector than Hamilton managed, but ended up 0.007s adrift of the overall session best in second place.
Behind the leading two, Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel finished third and fourth, 0.033s and 0.108s down on Hamilton’s time respectively.
The ultrasoft tyre proved difficult to get up to temperature. Several drivers, including Hamilton, struggled for traction in the third sector during the qualifying runs.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fifth, while team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finished ninth. Both drivers lost time in the final sector versus the Mercedes’ and Ferrari’s, while Ricciardo’s lap was further compromised by time lost in the first two sectors.
Nico Hulkenberg was the best-of-the-rest in sixth. Kevin Magnussen finished seventh, while Carlos Sainz Jr was eighth.
Fernando Alonso rounded out the top 10. Stoffel Vandoorne’s session ended prematurely when he suspected that a wheel had not been sufficiently tightened after a live pitstop with 15 minutes remaining. McLaren needs to investigate the issue as the team believed the pitstop to have been completed successfully. Vandoorne was 14th on the timesheet.
Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon finished 11th and 13th for Force India. They were two of six drivers to head out on intermediate tyres in the final minutes of the session.
Romain Grosjean and Lance Stroll propped up the timesheet after having spun during their qualifying simulation attempts – Stroll lost control at the high-speed right-hander of Turn 8, while Grosjean lost the rear at Turn 11.
