Japanese Grand Prix 2015 - Practice 2 Analysis: Kvyat puts Red Bull on top as they show strength in wet condtions.

Practice 2 for the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix has finished and once again we saw limited running as rain affected most of the session. Daniil Kvyat drove his Red Bull to the top of the time sheets and bettered the efforts of both Mercedes who followed closely in 2nd and 3rd.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

The session started off with intermediate conditions and they looked to be improving to perhaps even have slick running. However that wasn't the case as with about 30 minutes to go in the session the rain picked up and we saw full wet conditions. This affected Fernando Alonso as the McLaren missed the inters running due to an unscheduled engine change which saw him miss the first hour of the session. He finished 18th with a time on the full wets.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso had a very disrupted session with an engine change.

Daniil Kvyat was the star of the session as he managed to finish ahead of two Mercedes that look back to normal. Even with many drivers struggling, there were little mistakes from the Mercedes team which makes Kvyat's lap more outstanding. Many people were struggling in the changeable conditions. Early on Sergio Perez was complaining of a lot of understeer and he couldn't match the initial pace of Kvyat. 18 minutes into the session Pastor Maldonado ran across the grass on the exit of Turn 2. It was a lazy mistake and it looks as though he was too busy adjusting settings on the wheel. Minutes later Sebastian Vettel ran wide at Turn 1 and came inches to beaching himself in the gravel trap. Then 41 minutes into the session Max Verstappen took a trip through the gravel at the hairpin (Turn 11) after he locked up going into the slowest corner on the Suzuka track.

Then running was really disrupted as the rain began to come down, and for a period of 10 minutes Fernando Alonso had the track to himself as he got in some valuable wet weather running. Towards the end of the session both Mercedes and Ferrari's joined him on the track as they practiced starts at the end of the pit lane.

Ferrari front wings.

Once again though most of these times are highly irrelevant as wet weather times can't reflect race pace in dry conditions on Sunday. This means that the most important session now becomes Saturday Practice 3 as teams will have a choice to check long run pace or simulate qualifying. The teams will probably opt for the long run pace to see if the option tire can run long enough too run the two stop strategy.

This is how the running finished:

1) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault
2) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
3) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
4) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
5) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
6) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
7) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
8) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
9) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
10) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
11) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
12) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda
13) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
14) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
15) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes
16) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
17) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda
18) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari
19) Alexander Rossi - Manor-Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas (Williams-Mercedes) did not set a laptime.

As I said earlier these times are relatively irrelevant as the wet running cannot dictate the pace of the cars in the dry. Free Practice 3 will definitely be a session to watch! Catch it tomorrow!

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Singapore Grand Prix 2015 - Qualifying Analysis: Vettel takes advantage of Mercedes struggles to seal a brilliant pole.

It has finally happened. The Mercedes power unit dominance in the V6 Turbo Hybrid era has ended with a brilliant pole position lap from Sebastian Vettel in the prancing horse at this years Singapore Grand Prix. Vettel stormed to pole with a 1:43.885 lap, 5 tenths ahead of his nearest rival Daniel Ricciardo.

Pole sitter: Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari

The Mercedes problems from Friday Practice 3 continued onto qualifying as they didn't top Q1, Q2 or Q3 only managing a mediocre 5th and 6th place on the grid. It is Mercedes worst qualifying since the 2013 US Grand Prix where Lewis Hamilton only qualified 5th with Rosberg in 14th. This is also the first time since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix that a Mercedes powered car hasn't been on pole.

Mercedes only managed 5th and 6th.

Everyone has been talking about the amazing performance of Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari and a lot of people have forgotten about Kimi Raikkonen who managed an excellence 3rd place on the grid to really back his team mate up. He couldn't quite make it a 1, 2 for Ferrari as Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull spoiled the party. Ricciardo had a great lap after a poor first sector and mediocre second sector but he bounced right back to go purple in the final sector, leaving millimeters between him and the wall in Turn 21. Daniil Kvyat backed his Red Bull team mate up with a career best 4th place on the grid.
Williams would have also been happy with there grid slots as they overcame there traction problems and got both cars into Q3. Bottas got the better of Massa though and finished 7th with the Brazilian coming home in 9th place. Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso split the two Williams and finished in 8th.

Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10 as he managed to squeeze into Q3 for Lotus. He didn't have his team mate to back him up as Pastor Maldonado showed his inexperience and why he truly is a payed driver as he could only managed 18th place on the grid. There really is no excuse for such a poor effort when your team mate can get up to 10th.

It was unlucky 11th again for Nico Hulkenberg after he missed out on Q3 due to yellow flags on his final run. They were bought out after Carlos Sainz hit the wall coming out of Turn 19. This disrupted the laps of everybody and saw both Force India's, McLaren's and Sainz himself instantly lose there chance to get into Q3. Force India will have been very disappointed after thinking they were in for strong Q3 points.

Daniel Ricciardo starts from the front row for Red Bull.

The last 5 slots on the grid were Maldonado as well as both Saubers and Manor-Marussias. Felipe Nasr led that pack in 16th, with his team mate Ericsson behind in 17th. Then came Maldonado's poor effort with Will Stevens getting the better of his team mate in the Manors taking the back row.

The grid order for Sunday looks like this:

1) Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
2) Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-Renault
3) Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
4) Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull Racing-Renault
5) Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
6) Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
7) Valtteri Bottas - Williams-Mercedes
8) Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso-Renault
9) Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
10) Romain Grosjean - Lotus-Mercedes
11) Nico Hulkenberg - Force India-Mercedes
12) Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda
13) Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
14) Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso-Renault
15) Jenson Button - McLaren-Honda
16) Felipe Nasr - Sauber-Ferrari
17) Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
18) Pastor Maldonado - Lotus-Mercedes
19) Will Stevens - Manor-Ferrari (5 Place Grid Penalty)
20) Alexander Rossi - Manor-Ferrari (5 Place Grid Penalty)

For me, Practice 3 and Qualifying has raised so many questions. Can Mercedes still win at Marina Bay? Red Bull gave them a real fight last year, as Lewis Hamilton feared his tires blowing up. Is 5th too far back for them? They haven't showed any long run pace and I don't think they have fixed there degradation problems. Can Red Bull win for the first time in 2015? This is realistically there last shot, and Daniel Ricciardo is pretty well placed to take Vettel off the line. Can Ferrari hold on and take there third win of the season and achieve the target they set for themselves at the start?

I can't wait for all these questions to be answered when the lights go green in just under 12 hours!

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