#HungarianGP FP2: @ValtteriBottas leads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two. #F1

Valtteri Bottas topped the time-sheets in FP2 at the Hungarian GP ahead of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in a Silver Arrows one-two and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen rounded out the top three.

The Finn shot to P1 towards the midway point of the second hour-long session when he posted a 1:17.012 on the C4 red side-walled softer compounds to pull 0.027 seconds clear.

Whilst Hamilton was able to recover time through sector three in comparison to his team-mate, a faster first half of the tour was enough from Bottas to ensure he remained at the head of the times as their efforts dropped by 1.2 seconds when the field swapped for a set of the weekend’s fastest rubber.

Verstappen – the morning pacesetter in opening practice in-front of Bottas – moved to third on his best lap but was 0.298 seconds adrift of the lead Mercedes driver as the Dutchman complaint of understeer.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen – the latter missing FP1 as reserve Robert Kubica took his place – was the first to emerge, with the Ferrari driver initially setting the benchmark of a 1:21.084 on the C2 white-marked hard tyres.

But the Spaniard was easily beaten by Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, his SF21 racer fitted with the C3 yellow-branded mediums, by seven tenths clear before the Alpine duo came to the track, lead by Fernando Alonso.

However, the session started to settle after five minutes when Bottas went easily quickest on the mediums posting a 1:18.376.

The Finn was joined by Mercedes team-mate Hamilton, the seven-time world champion three tenths behind, with the Red Bull pairing yet to leave their garages for their installation laps.

They remained in the pits for another few minutes before splitting the Mercedes duo, Verstappen up to second and Sergio Perez in fourth but with the fastest sector three time.

Bottas then gained another 0.15 seconds through the final sector of his hot-lap to improve his effort at the top of the time-sheets before his time was knocked out by a bit from Hamilton’s 1:18.140 flyer.

Hamilton remained as the sessions time-topper in the opening 20 minutes of proceedings and on the mediums before swapping to the softs.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was the first driver to set a flying lap on the red side-walled rubber, moving up to second place by 0.008 seconds in a quick one-shot lap from the German.

Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon held onto fourth place from his soft compound stint after switching to a race simulation run, but the Frenchman was required to stop at the pit garage after tape came close around his A521 racers’ air box and sidepods.

Perez completed the top five, ending sixth tenths behind Red Bull team-mate Verstappen, whilst wound up in-front of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who was sixth.

Alonso ended FP2 in seventh place as Vettel was soon relegated to eighth over the McLaren Racing entry of Lando Norris who finished the day in ninth place.

The Briton was 1.3 seconds adrift in a session where he was forced to miss the turns six-and-seven chicane after the rear of his Mercedes-powered MCL35M racer was unsettled by a cross-wind and had to dive into the run-off area to correct his over-steer.

The other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll rounded out the top ten, whilst the Ferrari’s lead by Leclerc, suffered a long lock-up into the first corner, and pipped his team-mate Sainz for 11th.

McLaren Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo ended the afternoon practice session in 12th and ahead of Alfa Romeo Racing’s Raikkonen who was 13th.

Williams Racing pairing George Russell and Nicholas Latifi finished the afternoon in 15th and 16th as AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda completed a late one-shot lap after missing the majority of FP2 due to his morning practice shunt to go 17th on the time-sheets.

Uralkali Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin ended the day in 18th and at the rear respectively with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi splitting the pairing in 19th.

You can see the full Formula 1 Magyar Nagydij (Hungarian Grand Prix) 2021 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1073/hungary/practice-2.html

#HungarianGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen heads time-sheets ahead of @ValtteriBottas. #F1

#Formula1 #HungarianGrandPrix 2021 Race Preview. #F1 #HungarianGP