Where the first practice session was relatively quiet, the second had barely gotten going before drivers were in the wall. Kamui Kobayashi sat out the first session in favour of Friday driver Roberto Merhi, and his inexperience showed as he crashed into the barriers early on. Daniel Ricciardo also ended up with his Red Bull squashed into the tyre barrier, with Esteban Gutiérrez rounding out the hat trick later in the session.

Jean-Éric Vergne managed to stop out on track with an engine problem, get back to the pit lane and rejoin the action, only for his Toro Rosso to give up for a second time. Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets, after clinging on to the car after his own out of control moment, with Nico Rosberg three tenths behind.