Chinese GP: Raikkonen leads Ferrari 1-2 in second practice

The Finn's best time of 1:36.896 - set on the supersoft tyres - put him 0.109 seconds clear of Sebastian Vettel as Ferrari outpaced rival Mercedes, who had to settle for third and fourth.

Nico Rosberg, quickest in the morning, finished in front of teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo completed the top five, albeit already over a full second off Raikkonen's pace, ahead of Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso and the fastest Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.

Carlos Sainz in the second Toro Rosso, Hulkenberg's teammate Sergio Perez and Williams' Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top 10 in a mostly incident-free 90 minutes of running.

After hitting trouble in the opening session, Haas driver Esteban Gutierrez managed just four laps in the afternoon before his rear brakes caught fire and he had to call it a day.

The Mexican had completed only two laps in the morning.

Renault's Kevin Magnussen was worse off, however, the Dane unable to take to the track following his problems in FP1.

Story of the session

After managing just nine laps in the first session, Romain Grosjean was quick to jump onto the track, the Frenchman the first driver to set a time in FP2.

The action, however, intensified quickly as teams tried to make up for the lost time in the morning.

After hitting trouble in the first session, Grosjean's teammate Gutierrez endured more drama right at the start of the afternoon, his rear brakes lighting up after just two laps.

The Mexican was forced to return to the pits and his mechanics had to use fire extinguishers on his car.

FP1 pace-setter Rosberg moved to the top if the times at the 10-minute mark, the German using the soft tyres to set a 1:37.761, the quickest time of the weekend at that point.

Rosberg was also quick to put on the supersoft tyres, the Mercedes driver going out on the red-marked rubber before the first half hour of the session.

The championship leader improved right away, setting a new benchmark of 1:37.133.

Teammate Hamilton also went out for a run on supersofts, but the Briton fell 0.196s short on Rosberg's best.

Vettel completed his first proper run on supersofts halfway through the session, the Ferrari driver jumping to the top of the times with a 1:37.005.

Around three minutes later, Raikkonen became the first man to lap in the 1:36s, the Finn moving to P1 with a quickest time of 1:36.896.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:36.896		35
2	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:37.005	+0.109	33
3	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:37.133	+0.237	33
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:37.329	+0.433	33
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:38.143	+1.247	31
6	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:38.268	+1.372	28
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:38.527	+1.631	31
8	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	1:38.542	+1.646	32
9	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:38.569	+1.673	31
10	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:38.723	+1.827	34
11	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:38.728	+1.832	31
12	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:38.828	+1.932	28
13	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing	1:39.178	+2.282	31
14	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:39.214	+2.318	34
15	Jolyon Palmer	Renault F1 Team	1:39.774	+2.878	32
16	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team	1:39.890	+2.994	22
17	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor Racing	1:39.941	+3.045	36
18	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:39.979	+3.083	35
19	Rio Haryanto	Manor Racing	1:40.550	+3.654	33
20	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:41.066	+4.170	32
21	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas F1 Team	1:42.954	+6.058	4