Williams’ Felipe Massa has closed out Friday’s rain-affected second practice session for the Russian Grand Prix on top of the timesheets, two-tenths of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Just eight drivers posted timed laps in the session, with much of the field opting not to risk damaging their cars on the greasy track surface when the rest of the weekend is forecast to be dry.
Massa’s fastest time was over 16 seconds slower than Nico Hülkenberg’s session-topping effort in FP1, effectively rendering it an irrelevance to try and read anything into this afternoon’s lap times.
In what will prove to be an almost identical situation as was seen in Japan a fortnight ago, the lack of Friday practice running will make for a congested final practice session on Saturday afternoon where the teams will need to finalise car set-ups for both qualifying and the race in less than an hour of on-track time.
The final practice session at Sochi begins at 12:00 local time (GMT +3) on Saturday.
| 2015 Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Results | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Driver | Team / Entry | Time | Gap | Laps | |
| 1. | Felipe Massa |  |
Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW37 | 2:00.458 | 6 | |
| 2. | Sebastian Vettel |  |
Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T | 2:00.659 | + 0.201 | 8 |
| 3. | Valtteri Bottas |  |
Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW37 | 2:00.688 | + 0.230 | 8 |
| 4. | Max Verstappen |  |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR10 | 2:00.806 | + 0.348 | 7 |
| 5. | Fernando Alonso |  |
McLaren Honda MP4-30 | 2:01.077 | + 0.619 | 12 |
| 6. | Daniil Kvyat |  |
Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB11 | 2:01.418 | + 0.960 | 6 |
| 7. | Carlos Sainz | |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR10 | 2:02.805 | + 2.347 | 7 |
| 8. | Jenson Button |  |
McLaren Honda MP4-30 | 2:02.845 | + 2.387 | 8 |
| 9. | Nico Rosberg | |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W06 Hybrid | no time | 6 | |
| 10. | Marcus Ericsson |  |
Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C34 | no time | 3 | |
| 11. | Lewis Hamilton | |
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W06 Hybrid | no time | 3 | |
| 12. | Sergio Pérez |  |
Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM08B | no time | 3 | |
| 13. | Nico Hülkenberg | |
Sahara Force India Mercedes VJM08B | no time | 3 | |
| 14. | Daniel Ricciardo |  |
Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB11 | no time | 1 | |
| 15. | Kimi Räikkönen | |
Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T | no time | 0 | |
| 16. | Romain Grosjean |  |
Lotus F1 Team Mercedes E23 Hybrid | no time | 0 | |
| 17. | Felipe Nasr | |
Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C34 | no time | 0 | |
| 18. | Pastor Maldonado |  |
Lotus F1 Team Mercedes E23 Hybrid | no time | 0 | |
| 19. | Will Stevens | |
Manor Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03B | no time | 0 | |
| 20. | Roberto Merhi | |
Manor Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03B | no time | 0 | |
Image via XPB Images
Richard Bailey
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