With corners at the refurbished circuit in short supply, and three long
straights – two of which are up fairly steep hills – the superior power of
the Mercedes was always going to tell.
It was not a clean session for the Red Bulls either. Vettel came the closest
he has to victory doughnuts (a familiar sight in the second half of 2013) in
FP1, with a 720-degree spin coming out of the last corner.
The German was not the only one. Mercifully, Red Bull have retained the gravel
traps and grass run-off areas, resisting the temptation to replace them with
concrete. This meant many drivers were suffering the consequences of even
fairly minor mistakes.
Elsewhere, Rosberg seemed to have the measure of Hamilton in the drizzly
morning running, ending up just over a tenth quicker. There was one point
where the German slowed due to an issue with his power unit, obstructing
Hamilton’s progress. The Briton pulled up alongside Rosberg to make his
point. It was yet another vignette to be pored over in their title battle.
While sparks did not fly between the two, they were occasionally coming off
Rosberg’s Mercedes down the pit straight. The car had been fitted with
titanium skid blocks, one of many ideas being mooted to try and improve F1
as a spectacle.
The 90 minutes in the afternoon yielded much of the same, although Red Bull
were able to run higher and this time it was Hamilton who seemed to have the
edge on Rosberg.
At one point, trailing Hamilton by a third of a second, a frustrated Rosberg
came over the team radio to ask: “Any advice?”
He ended the session unable to bridge the gap. Hamilton, who trails Rosberg by
22 points in the championship, was the fastest man on Friday with a 1min
9.542sec lap.
Vettel ended FP2 sixth, while Jenson Button was seventh.