Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton bounced back to top the second practice session in the 2018 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix at Sochi from Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton topped FP2 with a 1m33.385s leading a Mercedes 1-2 with Bottas only 0.199s away after the Finn’s time of 1m33.584s. It was a formation of two in the Top 6 with the Red Bull Racing drivers beating the Ferraris.
Max Verstappen slotted in third from Daniel Ricciardo with the two clocking a 1m33.827s and 1m33.844s lap time respectively from Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, who did a 1m33.928s and 1m34.388s respectively.
The Ferrari drivers opted for a quicker lap early in the session which saw Vettel spinning at one moment. Racing Point Force India kept their best of the rest form with Sergio Perez (1m35.122s) this time in seventh.
Esteban Ocon (1m35.147s) did well too to sandwich Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly (1m35.137s) in eighth as Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson (1m35.295s) completed the Top 10 in a fairly trouble-free session for all the drivers.
The two contenders for fourth place in the constructors’ championship, Renault and Haas found themselves out the Top 10 position with Kevin Magnussen (1m35.331s) leading Carlos Sainz (1m35.341s) in 11th.
Ferrari-bound Charles Leclerc (1m35.432s) in the Sauber continued to find his feet at Sochi as he finished 13th from Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m35.568s) and Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m35.911s).
Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley (1m36.024s) led the two McLarens and Williams in what was a disappointing run for the two British based teams. Fernando Alonso (1m36.074s) was 17th from Stoffel Vandoorne (1m36.617s) with Sergey Sirotkin (1m36.861s) ahead of Lance Stroll (1m37.001s).