The battle between Red Bull and Mercedes continues this weekend as Valtteri Bottas just about beat Lewis Hamilton to the fastest time of Practice Two after Max Verstappen claimed the top spot in this morning’s session.
Verstappen had just about beaten the Mercedes duo to the top spot this morning, however, this afternoon the Dutch driver was struggling with grip in the extreme temperatures which saw him fall behind.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez again fell down the order and finished 0.8s off the pace in the second Red Bull.
Alpine had a good run this afternoon and finished out the day with Esteban Ocon in fourth and Fernando Alonso seventh fastest.
Pierre Gasly had a strong FP1 finishing in 5th, and followed it up with a P6 finish this afternoon, as the French drivers weekend gets off to a flying start.
After damaging the rear of his AlphaTauri in an FP1 accident at Turn Four, Gasly’s teammate, Yuki Tsunoda only returned to the track in time for a single flying lap at the end of the session.
Sebastian Vettel finished 8th, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Lance Stroll for Aston Martin in P9 and P10 respectively.
Both Ferraris had landed in the top 10 during FP1, however, they fell down the order in the second session which saw Charles Leclerc in 11th and Carlos Sainz in 12th.
Speaking after his quickest lap of 1:17.012 Bottas said; “It’s not a bad start for us. It’s good to see that most likely we’re going to be in the fight for the pole, so that’s really motivating.”
Verstappen, who finished 0.298s behind the Mercedes said; “It’s so understeery it’s incredible.”
