Kimi Raikkonen took over from Nico Rosberg at the top of the Chinese Grand Prix practice timesheets as Ferrari finished one-two in the afternoon session at the Shanghai International Circuit.

As the teams worked through performance runs on the supersoft tyres, Ferrari held out until later in the session and when Sebastian Vettel eventually took to the track on the red-banded Pirelli tyre he went quickest by 0.1s ahead of Rosberg.

Vettel, though, quickly eclipsed by Kimi Raikkonen, with the Finn edging his team-mate by just over a tenth of a second.

As in the morning session, Rosberg went marginally quicker than Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, with the German setting a best time of 1:37.133 to beat the champion by 0.196s.

After appearing to struggle with an intractable car in the morning, Hamilton again looked to be having difficulty finding a comfort zone in the afternoon and he had an off at Turn 6 during the session and suffered a major lock-up late on.

Behind the champion, Daniel Ricciardo was fifth for Red Bull Racing. His best of the rest status was the result of a best lap of 1:38.143, some 1.2s adrift of Raikkonen's P1 time.

The Australian was followed by Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen, with the Dutch teenager almost three tenths of second clear of eighth-placed team-mate Carlos Sainz after the Spaniard had gone quicker in the morning session.

Spliting the Toro Rossos was Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg who set a best time of 1:38.527 31. He was followed by team-mate Carlos Sainz, while William’s Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top ten order with a time of 1:38.723 34.

Elsewhere, Kevin Magnussen sat out the session as Renault investigated the cause of the left rear suspension failure that brought his FP1 running to an early end.

Esteban Gutierrez also had a difficult session. After a gearbox sensor issue prevented him setting a time in the morning, the Haas driver’s woes continued when a brake issue restricted his FP2 running to just four laps. 

2016 Chinese Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:36.896 35
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:37.005 33
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:37.133 33
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:37.329 33
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:38.143 31
6 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:38.268 28
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:38.527 31
8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:38.542 32
9 Sergio Perez Force India 1:38.569 31
10 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:38.723 34
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:38.728 31
12 Jenson Button McLaren 1:38.828 28
13 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:39.178 31
14 Felipe Massa Williams 1:39.214 34
15 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:39.774 32
16 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:39.890 22
17 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:39.941 36
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:39.979 35
19 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:40.550 33
20 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:41.066 32
21 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:42.954 4
22 Kevin Magnussen Renault  0