Nico Rosberg was fastest again in the second practice session at the Red Bull Ring despite a downpour during the session.
Rosberg resumed his position at the top of the times within a few minutes of the session starting as drivers took advantage of a brief opportunity to set times before the rain arrived.
However the session quickly clouded over and a downpour hit much of the track. Sergio Perez and Jolyon Palmer were among those who spun as the field made their way to the pits.
With the track extensively soaked save for a section around turn two, the teams remained in the pits for around half of the session. However once it began to dry out fir the Red Bulls and then a series of others headed out once more on intermediates.
It took until around the final ten minutes of running for the track to become dry enough for slicks tyres to be used. Lewis Hamilton moved up to second quickest, less than two-hundredths of a second slower than his team mate.
Late in the session Rosberg produces the fastest first and second sector times but pitted before completing the lap. Seconds later Sebastian Vettel lost control of his Ferrari braking for turn two and spun into the gravel trap.
The Virtual Safety Car was activated while the Ferrari was recovered, which put an end to any further lap time improvements.
Second practice visual gaps
Nico Rosberg – 1’07.967
+0.019 Lewis Hamilton – 1’07.986
+0.613 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’08.580
+0.622 Sebastian Vettel – 1’08.589
+0.682 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’08.649
+0.746 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’08.713
+0.794 Max Verstappen – 1’08.761
+0.853 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’08.820
+0.974 Valtteri Bottas – 1’08.941
+1.108 Fernando Alonso – 1’09.075
+1.217 Felipe Massa – 1’09.184
+1.240 Daniil Kvyat – 1’09.207
+1.259 Sergio Perez – 1’09.226
+1.558 Kevin Magnussen – 1’09.525
+2.053 Jolyon Palmer – 1’10.020
+2.067 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’10.034
+2.171 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’10.138
+2.173 Marcus Ericsson – 1’10.140
+2.433 Romain Grosjean – 1’10.400
+2.477 Felipe Nasr – 1’10.444
+3.361 Rio Haryanto – 1’11.328
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
2016 Austrian Grand Prix
- Long stint didn’t cause Vettel’s tyre blow-out in Austria
- Point earns Wehrlein Driver of the Weekend win
- 2016 Austrian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2016 Austrian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Why boo that? Strong rating for suspenseful Austrian GP
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
1st July 2016, 14:40
Does Vettel have a grid penalty?
Michal (@michal2009b)
1st July 2016, 14:44
Yes, making Mercedes victory almost a certainty.
Martin
1st July 2016, 18:13
Huh why does Vettel have a penalty?
Michal (@michal2009b)
1st July 2016, 21:51
gearbox change.
Nick Wyatt (@nickwyatt)
1st July 2016, 15:17
Did Ferrari actually fit the Halo 2 at all today?
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
1st July 2016, 16:03
They said the wouldn’t test it on track…
Nick Wyatt (@nickwyatt)
1st July 2016, 16:06
Thanks. Hmm, wonder why not.
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
1st July 2016, 16:35
:D
Ashwin (@redbullf1)
1st July 2016, 15:27
Oh good, Rosberg is back in form. Hope he wins a few more races and give a big enough of a challenge to Hamilton.
Robert (@rob8k)
1st July 2016, 16:15
Hamilton has had a poor season for his standards. We can analyse the mechanical faults but up to now he has under performed for the standards he usually set. The grid penalties Ham will receive in the future will hurt his cause but you can’t deny, Rosberg deserves credit for his consistent driving this season. Although if one driver can pull back a gap to win a championship, it is Hamilton.
Ashwin (@redbullf1)
1st July 2016, 18:59
Yes agree, that was my point. Rather than see a boring domination by one driver, I would like to see him fighting all odds to win the championship towards the closing stages.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
1st July 2016, 20:41
Gap is not that big. His form is poor. That is the real issue.
Raveendhana
1st July 2016, 16:17
Looks like there gonna be a close fight for p3.
Duc Pham (@ducpham2708)
1st July 2016, 17:42
Was excited to hear about the Ferrari engine upgrade. The last time they upgraded their engine in Canada, Ferrari got real close, and that was a non-token upgrade.
Just to know that Vettel has a grid penalty for gearbox change.
Well there goes a potential good race.
anon
1st July 2016, 22:39
Actually, Ferrari did spend two development tokens to introduce their upgraded turbocharger unit in Canada – they’d made it quite clear before that race that they were introducing a performance upgrade and were in talks with the FIA about how many tokens they could spend for that race. http://www.f1technical.net/news/20360
It might be yielding a few short term benefits, but Ferrari has blown almost all of their tokens now – they only have three for the rest of this season, a quarter of what Mercedes and Honda have and a seventh of what Renault have.
Yoseph
1st July 2016, 18:15
Never discount Kimmi…and Ricciardo…
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
1st July 2016, 20:42
Mercedes could crash, rain could hit… Other than that….
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
2nd July 2016, 11:33
Actually the Red Bull and Torro Rosso drivers were the first out drivers on the track when the heavy rain had stopped, and were the only drivers on the track for about 10 minutes. The commentators commented on this too. It is obvious these drivers are at this track with the intention of winning, and they want to be ready if it rains during the race.
My recollection is most of the fastest lap times posted were prior to it raining.
audifan
1st July 2016, 20:56
isn’t your title rather misleading keith ? didn’t I read that rosberg went out before it rained and set his time but that hamilton set his ….when it was dry enough for slicks…. ?
pSynrg (@psynrg)
1st July 2016, 23:53
How is it misleading? Rosberg was quickest in the session. There was a heavy downpour. The title suggests nothing else. Read the article and the detail you seek is there, it doesn’t make the title any less true!
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
2nd July 2016, 11:54
Yes, that is correct in that Rosberg set his time before the rain set in, while Hamilton set his time as towards the end of the session, so one can argue the headline is correct. My recollection is the track was almost as dry for Hamilton as it was for Rosberg. I can’t recall how fast Rosberg went after the rain stopped, but look at the lap count: Rosberg = 25, Hamilton = 19. The important thing is many drivers went out onto the track when it was wet or when half of it was still wet, so at least they could get some practice in. Hamilton was hardly on the track after the rain stopped, he spent most of his time in the garage, he only came out when the track was almost as dry as it was at the start of the session. I guess Hamilton believes he has proved he doesn’t need to do any more because he posted the second fastest time on a dried out track, while people like Ricciardo, Verstappen, Sainz, Kvyat, Rosberg … and well almost all the other drivers, have proved they can handle a wet track and are ready to pounce on any driver who can’t handle the conditions if it does rain.