QATAR GP – Valtteri Bottas fastest in second practice two tenths ahead of Pierre Gasly
Valtteri Bottas was fastest in second practice for the Qatar Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver set a 23.1 which put him two tenths ahead of the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly. Bottas looked to be the stronger of the two Mercedes as the conditions cooled down as the sunset in Lusail.
The Finn was the first of the top teams to set a time, while it was the same near enough to his session topping time, it was deleted when he exceeded track limits at Turn Seven. That was confusing as race director Michael Masi’s altered instructions issued after FP1 that declared any driver going off the purple and red kerbs at any corner, not just those five initially under scrutiny by the FIA, would have the lap in question deleted.
Max Verstappen was third fastest three and a half tenths off Bottas, however on what looked to be his fastest lap, the Dutchman ran very wide through Turn Ten losing time through the long left-hander.
Verstappen’s next attempt on soft saw him set personal pushing his championship rival Lewis Hamilton to fourth, six hundredths behind. However, Hamilton looks to be marginally ahead of Verstappen and Bottas when it comes to race runs.
Lando Norris put his McLaren fifth-fastest going two hundredths of a second faster than Lance Stroll. Yuki Tsunoda put his Alpha Tauri seventh going four hundredths faster than Sergio Perez, however the Mexican did not set a time on soft tyres which left him six tenths off Bottas and two tenths behind teammate Verstappen.
Perez lost a lot of the final third of the session, as Red Bull worked on his DRS activation pod in its garage, after both of the RB16Bs had been spotted with their rear wings oscillating heavily with the DRS open at the end of the main straight.
Sebastian Vettel was ninth fastest going just over a hundredth faster than the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, who rounded out the top ten. The Aston Martin driver was frustrated as he caught Hamilton and Perez on their cool down laps as he was attempting a hot lap midway through the session.
Meanwhile, Sainz was another driver to run wide at Turn Ten onto the AstroTurf, which kicked up a lot of dust as he kicked up a huge amount of dust. There were no major incidents as drivers and teams familiarised themselves with the Losail, which is hosting its first Grand Prix and is better known for motorcycle racing.
Esteban Ocon was eleventh fastest, going four hundredths faster than his Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was thirteenth fastest, over a tenth behind his teammate Sainz. The Monacan picked up a €200 speeding ticket for breaking the pit lane speed limit.
Daniel Ricciardo put his McLaren fourteenth, going almost half a second ahead of the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen. George Russell spilt the two Alfa Romeo’s going over a tenth faster than Antonio Giovinazzi, while his Williams teammate Nicolas Latifi was eighteenth.
Mick Schumacher was the only Haas to take part in the session, his teammate Nikita Mazepin needing to have his chassis replaced after damage to his car in FP1.