Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton led the way in Friday’s free practice sessions of the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona.
The Scuderia Ferrari again proved to be the Silver Arrows’ nearest menace, with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen setting very competitive times.
Rosberg emerged quickest in FP1 with a time of 1m26.828, narrowly beating Hamilton. Vettel and Raikkonen ranked third and fourth, respectively. It was a good session for the three test drivers in action, with Raffaele Marciello 12th for Sauber, immediately followed by Jolyon Palmer for Lotus, and Susie Wolff - enjoying her first 2015 outing - for Williams. Free practice 2 Hamilton took revenge over Rosberg as he topped the second session in his Mercedes AMG W06.
However, Vettel’s Ferrari SF15-T was just 4/10ths of a second behind the reigning world champion. Vettel complained by radio about his car’s driveability prior to his run on hards, and then reported serious vibrations on the medium rubber. Rosberg took third place, but explained that he had problems with rejected downshifts during his first run on the medium tires. Raikkonen pursued Rosberg in the second Ferrari, though he complained mightily about a lap of grip.
The session was briefly halted when Romain Grosjean’s Lotus E23 lost its rear bodywork at speed on the main straight. Daniil Kvyat of Red Bull Racing surprised with the fifth fastest ahead of Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso and Jenson Button who was a astonishing seventh in the newly painted McLaren-Honda. 2015 Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona, first practice session*: 1 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W06) - 1m26.828 - 28 laps 2 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W06) - 1m26.898 - 27 3 - Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari SF15-T) - 1m27.806 - 21 4 - Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari SF15-T) - 1'27.832 – 16 5 - Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso STR10-Renault) - 1m28.132 - 27 6 - Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso STR10-Renault) - 1m28"529 - 23 7 - Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull RB11-Renault) - 1m28.785 - 7 8 - Felipe Massa (Williams FW37-Mercedes) - 1m28.831 - 21 9 - Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull RB11-Renault) - 1m29.075 - 9 10 - Felipe Nasr (Sauber C34-Ferrari) - 1m29.140 - 14 11 - Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM08-Mercedes) - 1m29.409 - 20 12 - Raffaele Marciello (Sauber C34-Ferrari) - 1m29.630 - 15 13 - Jolyon Palmer (Lotus E23-Mercedes) - 1m29.676 - 21 14 - Susie Wolff (Williams FW37-Mercedes) - 1m29.708 - 22 15 - Fernando Alonso (McLaren MP4-30-Honda) - 1m29.813 - 22 16 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4-30-Honda) - 1m29.813 - 22 17 - Sergio Perez (Force India VJM08-Mercedes) - 1'30.096 - 19 18 - Pastor Maldonado (Lotus E23-Mercedes) - 1'30.110 - 7 19 - Will Stevens (Manor MR03B-Ferrari) - 1m32.471 - 22 20 - Roberto Merhi (Manor MR03B-Ferrari) - 1m32.647 – 20 2015 Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona, second practice session*: 1 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W06) - 1m26.852 - 26 laps 2 - Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari SF15-T) - 1m27.260 - 37 3 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W06) - 1m27.616 - 35 4 - Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari SF15-T) - 1m27.780 - 36 5 - Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull RB11-Renault) - 1m27.943 - 25 6 - Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso STR10-Renault) - 1m28.017 - 32 7 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4-30-Honda) - 1m28.494 - 31 8 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW37-Mercedes) - 1m28.525 - 39 9 - Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso STR10-Renault) - 1m28.674 - 31 10 - Felipe Massa (Williams FW37-Mercedes) - 1m28.712 - 36 11 - Fernando Alonso (McLaren MP4-30-Honda) - 1m28.723 - 28 12 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E23-Mercedes) - 1m29.086 - 14 13 - Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull RB11-Renault) - 1m29.098 - 4 14 - Pastor Maldonado (Lotus E23-Mercedes) - 1m29.217 - 34 15 - Felipe Nasr (Sauber C34-Ferrari) - 1m29.333 - 37 16 - Marcus Ericsson (Sauber C34-Ferrari) - 1m29.361 - 34 17 - Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM08-Mercedes) - 1m29.601 - 38 18 - Sergio Perez (Force India VJM08-Mercedes) - 1m29.707 - 35 19 - Will Stevens (Manor 04-Ferrari) - 1m31.929 - 30 20 - Roberto Merhi (Manor 04-Ferrari) - 1m32.751 – 23 *Unofficial timing
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