#SakhirGP FP2 Report: @GeorgeRussell63 tops time-sheets for @MercedesAMGF1. #F1

George Russell ended FP2 at the top of the time-sheets for Mercedes at the Sakhir GP ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez whilst his team-mate Valtteri Bottas has a series of lap-times invalidated for exceeding track limits.

Romain Grosjean’s substitute at Haas F1 Team, Pietro Fittipaldi, posted the early benchmark of a 57.855 on the C3 yellow-marked mediums, which the Brazilian-youngster rapidly brought down to a 56.949 as he completed his early running alone on Bahrain’s “Outer Loop” layout.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen then claimed P1 with a 56.082 seconds on the C2 white side-walled harder compounds, before the 2007 World Champion was shuffled down by McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Racing Point pairing Lance Stroll and Perez – with the trio using the mediums during that period.

Renault’s Esteban Ocon, also running the medium rubber, then snatched first place with a 55.210, which the Frenchman then improved to a 55.185 15 minutes into the hour and a half session.

Ocon remained on top for another ten minutes until Verstappen set a 55.043 on the mediums – the best effort before the qualifying simulation runs began towards the mid-way stage of FP2.

Perez lead the field out on the C4 red-marked softer compounds, and went quickest with a 54.866, despite not posting a best effort in any of the three sectors.

The Mercedes pairing then began their flyers on the softs when the session hit the halfway point, with Bottas setting the fastest time in the second sector on his initial hot-lap.

The Finn then finished that attempt with a 54.506, but he did not remain on top for long as his lap-time was invalidated because Bottas exceeded track limits exiting turn eight “cutting behind the red and white kerb on the exit” beyond the right-hander – from the updated rules on track limits from the FIA.

Russell was next to set an effort on the softs – a 54.713 – which remained as the quickest time for the entirety of the session, but only 0.207 seconds slower than the time Bottas lost.

Bottas continued to run on his set of softer tyres, but ran wide twice exiting turn eight – backing off each time, with one of his slow times invalidated for a track limits infringement at that area.

Later as the field were running their race-run simulations after the softer compound stints, Mercedes warned Bottas that they received “feedback from the stewards” – which said the Finn was always “on the limit at turn eight”.

Ocon wound with the fourth best time and was 0.227 seconds off of Russell’s Sakhir GP FP2 effort, with Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon, another driver having his lap-time deleted for exceeding track limits, although not his best one, was fifth.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat took sixth place, in-front of Racing Point’s Stroll who finished seventh, Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo taking eighth and team-mate Pierre Gasly who ended the day ninth.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz who lost gear synchronisation in his Renault-powered MCL35 racer in the early race-run simulations completed the top ten and was 0.545 seconds adrift of Russell’s Sakhir GP FP2 best effort.

Bottas’s 55.321, which was set on the C2 harder rubber during the initial running, ended up his quickest time of the day as the Finn ended up 11th.

Alfa Romeo Racing pairing Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi finished FP2 in 12th and 13th places respectively with Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen 14th and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi 15th.

Ferrari suffered a difficult seconds practice session with Sebastian Vettel the leading driver for the Maranello-marque in 16th – taking two spins during the first half of FP2.

Initially the German lost the rear of his SF1000 racer as he exited through the exit of the left-hand second corner and spun sideways, damaging his mediums in the process.

Then on his soft tyre stint, Vettel rand too wide exiting the quick left turn five – the first corner on the “outer loop” circuit that turns away from the normal Bahrain Grand Prix track layout -catching a snap of over-steer, which saw the four-time World Champion dip his right-rear in the gravel and spun at high-speed on the inside.

This sent the German across Magnussen’s bows as the Dane toured slowly through the new, high-speed series sequence, but the Haas driver avoided collision by slamming his brakes as the Ferrari spun into the gravel, which Vettel was able to slowly recover.

Team-mate Charles Leclerc was unable to post a time after damaging his drive-shaft early in the session – with the Monegasque-youngster then setting the quickest first sector time – then lost drive after running wide over the turn eight exit kerbs where drivers are now punished for exceeding track limits and was forced to travel slowly back to the pits, where he was collected by his mechanics at pit entry.

The Scuderia worked on his car in an attempt to get Leclerc back into the session, but he did not re-emerge after completing only two laps.

McLaren’s Lando Norris also was forced to end his session early due an early power-unit issue, which followed after the Briton running deep over the kerbs accelerating through turn three and sustaining damage to the floor of his MCL35 racer during the early stages as he ended the day 17th.

Haas F1 Team’s Fittipaldi was 18th and in-front of Williams Racing’s Jack Aitken who took 19th..

You can see the full Formula 1 Rolex Sakhir Grand Prix 2020 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1060/bahrain/practice-2.html

You can catch up on the earlier FP1 session here: #SakhirGP FP1 Report: @GeorgeRussell63 quickest ahead of @RedBullRacing pairing. #F1

Read this weekend’s race preview here: #Formula1 @Rolex #SakhirGrandPrix 2020 Preview. #F1 #SakhirGP