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Formula 1 Chinese GP

Chinese GP Friday practice

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Here's our full report from that session. Thanks for joining us. See you again tomorrow for final practice and qualifying.

Chinese GP: Lewis Hamilton 0.007s faster than Kimi Raikkonen in FP2

Lewis Hamilton pipped Kimi Raikkonen to the fastest time in the second Formula 1 free practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix by just seven-thousandths of a second

Chinese GP: Lewis Hamilton 0.007s faster than Kimi Raikkonen in FP2
Autosport
Red Bull is perhaps buoyed by being allowed to run higher power modes for longer by Renault this weekend.

Renault allows F1 teams to unlock more engine performance in China

Renault has allowed all three of its Formula 1 teams to unlock more performance in China after its 2018 engine showed good reliability in the opening races of the season

Renault allows F1 teams to unlock more engine performance in China
An incredibly close session there, only 0.108s covering the top four cars, with Verstappen's Red Bull only three tenths off the pace and looking very competitive on the longer runs.
Crash
Ericsson spun his Sauber at the hairpin. "Which brake map?!" he barks. "I don't know why I have so much rear locking".
Ocon breaks the timing beam in 1m51.665s, almost 20s down on his dry weather time! Perez manages 1m52.278s.
Checkered flag
That's the end of FP2 as the chequered flag falls.
Ocon's feeling braver - he flashes past the pits to begin a flying lap.
Alonso straight back into the pits, so just a sighter there for McLaren.
Ericsson and Hartley are having a stab too.
Alonso heads out on intermediates, along with the two Force Indias, so we're not done quite yet.
That's effectively session over with just under five minutes remaining.
Crash
Massive lockup for Ericsson at Turn 4. Most cars in the pits now as the track conditions deteriorate.
Vandoorne trudges back to the McLaren garage after hitching a lift on the back of a scooter.
Radio Comms
What do you think of the track Daniel? "At the moment it's OK, a bit greasy, but if it keeps going like this it will get quite a bit worse".
Radio Comms
"It's started drizzling - the last sector" Verstappen confirms.
Information
Starting to drizzle now as the session reaches the 10-minute countdown.
Vandoorne climbing out of the McLaren. Looks like another unsafe release from a pitstop, which is becoming a worrying theme of F1 in 2018.
Crash
Problem for Vandoorne who is told to "stop the car" by McLaren. Vandoorne reports "the tyre is not on".
Radio Comms
Ricciardo reporting a feeling of a "long" brake pedal as this run progresses. Lots of pedal trouble for the Australian in this session.
Vettel trying the medium tyre now too. Clearly an effort to collect a variety of tyre data before this rain comes.
Back to the long runs, Verstappen still lapping slightly quicker than Hamilton, who now pits. Raikkonen looking good on the soft tyre too. Bottas has just taken mediums, while Ricciardo seems to be struggling a bit compared to Verstappen on the ultrasoft.
"Possible rain in 11 minutes" says McLaren. That team has a famously inaccurate weather radar, so expect bright sunshine for the final 24 minutes.
Edd Straw
Alonso is 10th based on his performance run, 1.150s off the pace. But he had the help of a tow from team-mate Vandoorne on the long back straight. Vandoorne had already done his lap and was asked over the radio to drop back while on his in lap to give Alonso a hand.
Radio Comms
"I'm falling off the cliff of the tyres," reports Sainz, who seems to be confused between mountaineering and Formula 1.
Raikkonen out on the soft tyre as Ferrari elects to split strategies for this final part of FP2.
Radio Comms
"How's the balance Max?" asks Red Bull. "A bit of both - rear left and front left" replies Verstappen, who is going tenth for tenth with Hamilton on this ultrasoft long run.

By: Geoff Creighton

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