#PortugueseGP FP2: @LewisHamilton quickest ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

Lewis Hamilton topped the afternoon FP2 session at the Portuguese GP ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

After finishing well behind Verstappen and FP1 pace-setter Bottas, Hamilton’s second session at the Autodromo Internacional Do Algarve was much more smoother as he lead the Dutchman by 0.143 seconds in the time-sheets.

The hour session, which was delayed by 10 minutes due to track officials inspecting a drain cover on the outside of the right hand 90 degree turn 11, was action-packed from the get-go as all 20 cars hit the track quickly – which has the become the norm with the reduce running time in 2021.

Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon lead the field around and set the opening time of FP2 with a 1:21.687, before Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc posted the P1 benchmark of a 1:21.697 – with all drivers bar Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin, who was on the harder compounds, running the C2 yellow-marked mediums from off.

Verstappen’s initial hot lap put him top with a 1:20.937 as the times continued to tumble in the opening ten minutes – the Dutchman was quickly demoted by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who set a 1:20.831.

Bottas then claimed top spot for the first time before he was momentarily knocked off by Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez who posted a 1:20.761, with the former then reclaiming P1 with a 1:20.432 as the first flurry of action had subsided.

Almost ten minutes later, Verstappen jumped back into first with a 1:20.332, just as the Mercedes pairing re-emerged from the pits fitted with the C4 red side-walled softer tyres for the first time.

Bottas’ 1:20.181 put the Finn back on top, but his effort was not smooth overall, as Verstappen continued to post a string of quick laps on the C2 mediums.

But Hamilton, who complained of poor car balance in the opening session, looked solid around his initial flying lap on the softer rubber, setting what was then the quickest times in the first two sectors.

The Briton did lose time on his personal best in the final sector, but was still fast enough to beat his team-mate by 0.344 seconds with a 1:19.837, which remained the session’s best time until the end.

A few minutes after the midpoint of FP2, Verstappen went for his qualifying simulation stint on the softs and at first was very competitive against Hamilton’s effort.

The Red Bull driver posted the best time in the sector one but lost time as the lap went on – particularly in the third sector – and ended up second.

This settled the top three positions on the time-sheets as the teams switched to their traditional FP2 long run data gathering.

Sainz finished FP2 in fourth and ahead of Alpine F1 Team pairing Fernando Alonso and Ocon who were fifth and sixth respectively and Ferrari team-mate Leclerc who was seventh.

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was eighth and in-front of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who took ninth and Red Bull’s Perez rounded out the top ten.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly ended the day outside the top ten in 11th place and ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris who finished 12th and Williams Racing’s George Russell who was in 13th.

The other AlphaTauri and Aston Martin of Yuki Tsunoda and Sebastian Vettel were in 14th and 15th respectively.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was 15th and in-front of Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN pairing Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi who were 16th and 17th respectively.

Haas F1 Team duo Mick Schumacher and Mazepin ended the day in 18th and at the rear respectively with Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi splitting the two in 19th place.

Two drivers at the rear of the field in Latifi and Mazepin had the most significant off-track excursions in the session.

Latifi skated across the gravel trap at the exit of the double-apex right turn eight after losing the rear of his FW43B racer at the second part and the Canadian had to turn out and run into the gravel.

Mazepin, caused a brief yellow flag when he suffered locked up and ran across the run-off area also at Turn 8 during the early stint, although the Russian did not reach the gravel trap before turning back onto the circuit.

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Grande Premio De Portugal 2021 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1066/portugal/practice-2.html

@ValtteriBottas heads @RedBullRacing pairing in #PortugueseGP FP1 session. #F1

#Formula1 @Heineken Grande Premio De Portugal 2021 Preview. #F1 #PortugueseGP