#DutchGP FP2: @CharlesLeclerc heads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two. #F1

Charles Leclerc lead from team-mate Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari one-two in FP2 at the Dutch GP in another red flag affected session with Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon third.

 

 

With 21 minutes of afternoon second practice left on the clock at Circuit Zandvoort, Leclerc became the first and sole driver to post a lap-time under the 1:11’s bracket and he moved to the top of the time-sheets.

 

The Monegasque-youngster set a 1:10.902 to jump by Ocon before Leclerc was joined by his Ferrari team-mate Sainz, who moved to second place and was 0.154 seconds adrift.

 

It was a full six-tenths gain over Hamilton’s benchmark in the earlier Free Practice 1 session.

 

The start of FP2 was delayed by five minutes, with the full one hour still permitted, and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen was the first driver to emerge on track.

 

He was chased by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin along with all drivers, except for the McLaren’s, Williams, Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (C1 white side-walled harder compounds) opted to run the C2 yellow-branded mediums.

 

Raikkonen pushed his Ferrari-powered C41 Alfa entry over the line with a 1:14.256, but was rapidly knocked down by Perez by seven tenths.

 

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas then went to the top of the order after the fourth minute mark, putting in a 1:11.866 to gain four tenths over the Ferrari pairing.

 

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton’s initial stint was finished with a 1:11.911 and the Briton moved to second, but his day ended early after he brought out the red flags after the six minutes into the session.

 

Hamilton reported a loss of power, due to an oil feed issue, and was ordered to stop his F1 W12 EQ Performance racer at the turn eight right-hand corner on the far side of the circuit, which was met with an eruption of cheers from the crowd.

 

Hamilton’s Mercedes was pushed into the escape road and the session went back to green running after the eight-minute suspension, and the seven-time world champion was demoted down to 11th.

 

Sainz lead the pack out of the pit-lane as the field waited for the green light for FP2 before Ocon and Red Bull’s home-town hero Max Verstappen quickly moved to second and third behind Bottas.

 

A minute later, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel returned to the track with 45 minutes left on the clock after a suspected ERS failure in Free Practice 1 had given the German a long-lengthy spell on the sidelines.

 

With 39 minutes remaining, and likely due to Hamilton’s stoppage, Bottas put on a set of C3 red-marked softs earlier to begin his qualifying simulation run.

 

The Finn posted a 1:11.664 to reestablish his advantage at the head of the order before Alpine’s Ocon set an impressive 1:11.074.

 

Despite renewed attempts from Mercedes’ Bottas, he could only lower the deficit to 0.058 seconds as Alonso jumped to third ahead of AlphaTauri’s Gasly.

 

Alonso got within 0.495 seconds closer to his Alpine team-mate before a second red flag halted proceedings.

 

Uralkali Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin brought out the red flags at the midway point of the hour-long session when the Russian lost the rear of his VF-21 on the 90-degree entry right-hand turn 11 corner and beached it in the gravel.

 

The Ferrari’s quickly jumped to the head of the time-sheets when FP2 resumed, but the interrupted practice programmes saw an early end to the qualifying simulation runs.

 

This left Leclerc to lead Sainz in a Ferrari one-two and Ocon third for Alpine as Bottas ran to fourth place over Verstappen, who ended the afternoon with a 1:11.264 and 0.362 off of the Ferrari’s.

 

But the most of the running for Verstappen was dedicated to long race runs, and the Red Bull driver consistently ran 1:15.1 to 1:15.4’s during the final 15 minutes.

 

Alonso and Gasly were sent down to sixth and seventh respectively, whilst McLaren’s Lando Norris put on the softs to beat Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi to eighth on the time-sheets.

 

Vettel recovered after a horrid start to the weekend and rounded out the top ten.

 

The aforementioned Hamilton was 11th and in-front of the second Honda-powered Red Bull RB16B entry of Perez and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who were 12th and 13th respectively.

 

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was 14th and ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who finished the second session 15th and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Raikkonen who came 16th in the order.

 

Haas F1 Team pairing Mick Schumacher and NMazepin ended the day 17th and 19th respectively with Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi and George Russell 18th and at the rear.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1075/netherlands/practice-2.html

 

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