#BrazilianGP FP2: @alo_oficial tops time-sheets ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1 #SaoPauloGP

Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso was quickest in FP2 at the Brazilian GP and in-front of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes Valtteri Bottas completing the top three as the verdict of the off-track investigation between title-rivals Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton is still pending.

The final practice session before the 100km Qualifying Sprint Race got underway without a decision on Hamilton’s rear wing case or Verstappen’s parc ferme incident, potential penalties for both championship contenders hanging over the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace race weekend – and the title-battle – like a storm cloud. The verdict for both will feature in my post-qualifying sprint report.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen opened FP2 with a 1:14.604 on the C3 yellow side-walled medium compounds as all four Alfa Romeo and Haas F1 Team entries hit the track during early proceedings in the hour-long session.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda momentarily held top spot before the ten-minute mark, but was immediately knocked off by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who set a 1:13.219 on his C4 red-marked softs.

Team-mate Verstappen followed suit and immediately was quickest in all three sectors to move into P1 with a 1:12.102, also running the softs, whilst Hamilton and the other Mercedes of Bottas remained in the garage.

Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon split the Red Bull pairing with a medium tyre flyer just under a second adrift of Verstappen, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly joining team-mate Tsunoda in the top five.

Hamilton and Bottas finally emerged 20 minutes into the session with a string of low-key running on the softs, both two seconds off the pace in 15th and eighth respectively.

Hamilton who is set to start today’s qualifying sprint on pole pending a decision on his DRS infringement in Friday qualifying, spread without apparently using the overtaking assistant on a new, identical Mercedes W12 rear wing, his original wing is still being held by the FIA for investigation.

When FP2 hit the 30-minute mark, Perez jumped Ocon to make it a Red Bull one-two, remaining eight-tenths down on team-mate Verstappen posting a 1:12.903 with the mediums, as both Red Bulls moving to longer race runs on the yellow-branded rubber.

As all ten teams focused their preparations on the upcoming final 100km Qualifying Sprint Race of the 2021 campaign, which will set the grid for Sunday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, FP2’s top spot was taken by Alpine’s Alonso.

With 20 minutes left on the clock, the Spaniard hit P1 using the softs, ending up 0.864 seconds quicker than Verstappen on a 1:11.238 as lap-times were over three seconds down from their Friday qualifying efforts.

Alonso held the top of the order to the end with Verstappen second and Bottas rounding out the top three.

Ocon in the second Alpine A521 was fourth and in-front of Hamilton with Perez taking sixth.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi ended up seventh and ahead of Ferrari pairing Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc who were eighth and ninth respectively.

Raikkonen completed the top ten as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll came 11th in the time-sheets.

McLaren Racing duo Daniel Ricciardo and birthday-boy Lando Norris finished the final practice session before the 100km Qualifying Sprint Race in 12th and 13th respectively, whilst AlphaTauri’s Gasly placed 14th in the classification.

Williams Racing’s George Russell was 15th in the order and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda who took 16th on the time-sheets and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel who ended FP2 17th.

The other Williams Racing FW43B entry of Nicholas Latifi ended the session 18th and in-front of Haas F1 Team pairing Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin who brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Grande Premio De Sao Paulo Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1104/brazil/practice-2.html

#BrazilianGP Qualifying: @LewisHamilton beats @Max33Verstappen to sprint pole. #F1

#BrazilianGP FP1: @LewisHamilton tops time-sheets ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

Formula 1 Heineken Sao Paulo GP 2021 Preview – #F1 #SaoPauloGP #BrazilianGP