#RussianGP FP2: @ValtteriBottas heads @MercedesAMGF1 team-mate @LewisHamilton by 0.044 seconds. #F1

Bottas Russian GP FP2 – Valtteri Bottas topped the time-sheets in FP2 at the Russian GP ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton in another Mercedes one-two with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly completing the top three in a session interrupted by a red flag caused by Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi’s heavy crash.

 

 

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, is running a new Honda power-train, meaning he will start at the back of the field, wounding up in sixth place behind Gasly, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

 

With discussions being held between Formula 1, the FIA, and the teams over the prospect of heavy rain expected tomorrow, the majority hit the track immediately as the afternoon one-hour session to make the most of the dry conditions before Sunday’s Grand Prix.

 

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was the sole exception as the Australian missed the opening third of FP2 as the Woking-based outfit changed his MCL35M’s Mercedes engine to a previous power-unit after detecting a problem with the engine he was running in Free Practice 1 over the lunch break.

 

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen set the first time of the session – a 1:37.019 on the C4 yellow side-walled medium compounds – before he was demoted by AlphaTauri’s Gasly and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who were also running the mediums.

 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc then used the quicker C5 red-marked softer rubber to go fastest as the opening five minutes ended, the Monegasque-youngster beating his team-mate Sainz with a 1:35.508.

 

Mercedes’ Bottas, also using the mediums, then jumped to the top of the pile on a 1:35.298, before Leclerc snatched the place back setting a 1:34.925 as his stint on the softs continued.

 

At the end of the first quarter, with most of the field back in the pits, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso used the softer tyres to go fastest on a 1:34.762.

 

After the opening 20 minutes, Verstappen and the Mercedes duo began their qualifying simulation runs, with Bottas leading the three around.

 

The Finn’s 1:33.593 saw him back into P1, as Verstappen found himself 1.028 seconds off the Mercedes drivers’ pace.

 

Hamilton, who had knocked over Mercedes’ front jack man when he returned back to the pits after his early stint, the F1 W12 EQ Performance racer overshooting his pit-stop marks as it was left with it’s “magic” brake-bias altering system still activated by the reigning world champion when he braked into his pit-box, with the Briton the last of the trio to go for a qualifying simulation effort on the softs.

 

Hamilton was ahead of Bottas by a tenth in the opening sector, where he posted the sessions quickest time, but the Briton lost time to his team-mate over the remaining final two sectors of the tour – Bottas and Alonso ended the afternoon with the fastest sector two and three times respectively – and wound up 0.044 seconds adrift.

 

Moments after this, Leclerc spun his SF21 racer out of the high-speed eighth turn after putting his right-side wheels on the astroturf strip behind the kerbs at the exit of the corner, but the Ferrari driver was able to continue without any issue – Red Bull’s Sergio Perez darted by the SF21 as he arrived a moment later.

 

FP2 was well into the traditional long run data gathering when the session was halted by Alfa Romeo Racing’s Giovinazzi who suffered a heavy shunt.

 

The Italian encountered a similar slip to Leclerc at the same corner, but he spun backwards at high-speed as the Ferrari-powered C41 crashed into the barriers behind the turn eight run-off, which destroyed the rear of his car.

 

Giovinazzi began to slowly drive-away from the incident, but the Hinwil-based squad ordered him to stop as he was “losing parts” and with, the barriers hit also need fixing, the session was stopped.

 

FP2 continued following a ten-minute delay and the long runs went on, during which Verstappen complained about the top-speed of his setup in FP2 and Hamilton also suffered a slide along the raised sausage kerb exiting the right-hand turn ten that leads onto the winding back straight after taking too much speed into the right-hander.

 

Gasly edged ahead of Norris as the qualifying simulation laps ended, wounding up 0.252 seconds adrift of Bottas’ Russian GP FP2 benchmark.

 

But the Frenchman’s session ended in dramatic fashion when his front wing broke off his AT02 racer after he bounced hard over the sausage kerb at the turn two second apex whilst following McLaren’s Ricciardo in the closing stages and Gasly had to travel slowly back to the pits.

 

Ocon ended up in-front of Verstappen taking fifth place, Sainz was seventh, whilst Alonso was demoted to eighth.

 

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel finished the day in ninth place with Ferrari’s Leclerc completing the top ten, in-front of Perez and Raikkonen who were 11th and 12th respectively with the latter reporting during the red flag that he was still feeling discomfort from getting something in his eye in the earlier FP1 session.

 

Williams Racing’s George Russell and Nicholas Latifi came in 13th and 16th places respectively with the aforementioned Giovinazzi and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll splitting the pairing in-between.

 

The aforementioned Ricciardo of McLaren was 17th and in-front of Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who ended the day a low 18th with Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher bringing up the rear.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand Prix Free Practice 2 Race Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1077/russia/practice-2.html

 

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#RussianGP FP1: @ValtteriBottas leads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two. #F1

#Formula1 VTB #RussianGrandPrix 2021 Race Preview. #F1 #RussianGP