Bottas tops Abu Dhabi GP FP2, tangles with Grosjean

 

 

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas ended Abu Dhabi GP FP2 on top of the time-sheets, although his evening was marred by a tangle with Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean.

 

The Finn was second fastest and a tenth slower than Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in the earlier running when both were using C4 Pirelli medium compounds.

 

He was the first of the front-running drivers to set a qualifying simulation time, posting the benchmark of a 1:36.256 on his hot lap under the bright lights.

 

That was enough to give the Finn top spot by 0.310 seconds from Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, with the advantage built in the first two sectors – with the factor coming from freshly-fitted power-unit component changes meaning Bottas will start at the back of the grid.

 

Bottas was on a later long run when he made an unusually aggressive dive up the inside of Grosjean during Free Practice 2 at the left-hand turn eleven.

 

Grosjean appeared not to have seen the Mercedes and the Frenchman turned in, with both cars colliding and shedding bodywork in the process as both drivers blamed each other over their team radios.

 

Although both cars returned to pit-lane, the 90 minute session was red-flagged for seven minutes for the debris to be cleared.

 

Bottas returned to the track after the session resumed with 12 minutes left on the clock, whilst Grosjean did not.

 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third and 0.386 seconds adrift of Bottas’ Abu Dhabi GP FP2 benchmark, having put on another fresh set of Pirelli C5 softs.

 

Leclerc was the first in the field to start a qualifying simulation run, but the rear of his SF90 racer stepped out on the Monegasque-youngster as he came out of the right-hand turn 19.

 

Leclerc caught it, but whacked the wall with the right-hand side of the SF90 and had to abandon the lap – later deciding to take on a fresh set of soft rubber.

 

Verstappen ended fourth quickest and was 0.551 seconds adrift of Bottas’ Abu Dhabi GP FP2 benchmark and three-tenths clear of Ferrari’s fifth-placed Sebastian Vettel.

 

Vettel was running a new gearbox after damaging his previous one during opening practice – although it was a Friday gearbox – it does not incur a penalty.

 

Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon was sixth fastest and 1.032 seconds off of Bottas’ Abu Dhabi GP FP2 benchmark pace, having lost nearly half a second to team-mate Verstappen in the final sector.

 

Grosjean ended the session best-of-the-rest in seventh with an earlier lap, which made the Frenchman only the third driver to attempt his qualifying simulation run.

 

SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team’s Sergio Perez was the closest to Grosjean, only 0.036 seconds behind in eighth and in-front of Toro Rosso duo Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly who completed the top ten.

 

McLaren pairing Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris finished 11th and 12th respectively and ahead of 13th-placed Racing Point of Lance Stroll and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who took 14th.

 

Renault F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo were 15th and 16th respectively and in-front of Alfa Romeo Racing duo Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi who ended FP2 17th and 18th.

 

The two ROKiT Williams Racing FW42’s of George Russell and Robert Kubica brought up the rear.

 

You can read the full Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the following link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2019/races/1020/abu-dhabi/practice-2.html

 

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You can catch up on Free Practice 1, F1 Newsbites and this weekend’s race preview at the following links:

 

Bottas tops #AbuDhabiGP FP1 as Vettel crashes. #F1 @ymcofficial

 

F1 Newsbites – Abu Dhabi GP Edition.

 

Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019 Preview