@LewisHamilton heads @MercedesAMG 1-2 in #AustrianGP FP2. #F1 #F1IsBack

Lewis Hamilton once again topped the time-sheets ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes continued their dominant start to the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season-opener at the Austrian GP in Free Practice 2.

Racing Point’s Sergio Perez took an impressive third place, with both Ferrari and Red Bull drivers ending the day well below their arch-rivals in the classification.

At the start of the hour and a half long session, it was Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean who lead the field out after missing the majority of Free Practice 1 due to a brake fluid leak in his VF-20 racer.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz posted the first flyer of FP2 at the Red Bull Ring, with a 1:06.886 on the harder rubber before Racing Point’s Lance Stroll eclipsed him with a 1:05.469 on the yellow-branded medium tyres.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen then jumped to the top after 20 minutes into the session, with a 1:05.379 also on the mediums.

Hamilton clocked a few laps in the earlier stages of FP2, before the reigning World Champion headed out after 25 minutes on the mediums in his striking black-liveried F1 W11 EQ Power+ machine and he improved over his three-lap stint to snatch top spot with a 1:05.095.

Several minutes later, the field switched for the softer rubber to do their qualifying simulations with Racing Point duo Perez and Stroll, lighting the time-sheets purple.

Whilst Perez took P1 setting a 1:04.945, Stroll dipped into the gravel through the fast right of turn eight and lost time, as the Racing Point pairing were demoted by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas who posted a 1:04.945 – with the Finn attacking the kerbs at the final two corners of the 4.318km Red Bull Ring circuit.

Sebastian Vettel put his Ferrari into third place on his hot lap while running the softs, but the German could not beat Perez’s time for best of the rest behind Mercedes’ benchmark effort.

Shortly after Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN’s Kimi Raikkonen took a trip across the gravel trap at the turn six exit – the long sweeping left hander in the second sector – it was Hamilton who was on the charge.

With softs fitted to his F1 W11 EQ Power+ racer, the Briton moved to the top of the time-sheets with a 1:04.304 – despite having an encounter with a McLaren travelling slowly at turn three’s exit.

Hamilton’s benchmark put him 0.197 ahead of Bottas, with Perez and Vettel falling to third and fourth respectively.

The times remained stable from then-onwards as the teams worked on race simulations, which saw Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo taking fifth, McLaren’s Lando Norris sixth and Racing Point’s Stroll in seventh.

Verstappen was the leading Red Bull driver in eighth place, but his best soft compound effort was 0.911 seconds adrift of Hamilton’s Austrian GP FP2 benchmark.

The Dutchman also had a near similar time to Raikkonen just past the 60 minute mark, keeping his Honda-powered RB16 racer out of the barriers and rejoining the track using their run off road beyond the turn six gravel trap, as the field were instructed to by the race directors.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished a low ninth (0.994 seconds off of Hamilton Austrian GP FP2 benchmark) and in-front of McLaren’s Sainz who rounded out the top ten.

Renault’s Esteban Ocon ended the day in 11th place and ahead of 12th-placed AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat who took a spin at turn one.

The other Honda-powered Red Bull RB16 entry of Alexander Albon wound up 13th place after taking a spin in almost identical fashion to his team-mate in the earlier FP1 session, as the Thai-Brit lost the rear at the turn six right hander with 20 minutes remaining.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi was 14th and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s pairing Kevin Magnussen and Grosjean who were 15th and 16th respectively.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly ended the day 17th, ahead of Williams Racing duo George Russell and Nicholas Latifi who finished 18th and at the rear, with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Raikkonen splitting the pairing in 19th.

Mercedes session did end on a sour note as Bottas reported shifting problems with ten minutes remaining and was called in for the team to investigate the issue.

The FIA was out in full force on penalising track limits with Magnussen (15th) having his lap-time deleted early for running too wide at turn nine and Raikkonen also having four laps wiped out for repeatedly running wide at the final corner.

You can see the full Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2020 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the following link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1045/austria/practice-2.html

Catch up on Free Practice Two highlights here.

You can catch up on what happened in Free Practice One here: @LewisHamilton leads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two in #AustrianGP FP1. #F1

You can checkout this weekend’s race preview here at the link: #Formula1 Rolex #AustrianGP 2020 Preview. #F1 #F1IsBack

Formula 1 2020 Championship Calendar