Max Verstappen, #33, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16, Free Practice 2, Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix, Intercity Istanbul Park, Istanbul, Tuzia, Turkey. Image credit to F1. Verstappen Turkish GP FP2.
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was quickest in the afternoon FP2 session at the Turkish GP ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, as the drivers continued to struggle on the track’s low-grip surface.
Max Verstappen, #33, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16, Free Practice 2, Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix, Intercity Istanbul Park, Istanbul, Tuzia, Turkey. Image credit to F1. Verstappen Turkish GP FP2.
The Mercedes-pairing had a quiet session with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton third and fourth respectively.
In reverse from this morning’s opening Free Practice 1 session, track temperatures at the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit decreased as FP2 progressed through the afternoon, from 20.2 to 18.5 degrees, which saw the lap times remain slow even as the field started undertaking their qualifying simulation runs on the C3 red side-walled softer compounds.
Verstappen’s best effort, a 1:28.330 – is still 3.281 seconds off of the 2011 Turkish Grand Prix pole lap time, and 3.56 seconds adrift of the Istanbul Park Circuit track record – set by Juan-Pablo Montoya in the Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes MP4-20 in the 2005 inaugural event.
After the majority of FP1 was completed on the C1 white-branded harder compounds, most of the drivers immediately ran the C2 yellow-marked medium rubber in the afternoon.
Bottas posted the early benchmark a 1:38.443, but the Finn lowered his next effort by three seconds, and he brought it down to a 1:34.940 after Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen had momentarily held P1 as he followed McLaren’s Carlos Sainz through the final corners.
The best P1 time continued to plummet by Bottas before Verstappen, also on the medium rubber, jumped ahead with a 1:32.836 then Red Bull team-mate Alexander Albon snatched top spot on a 1:31.916, which he then improved to a 1:30.872 when the session reached 20 minutes.
At this point, drivers started switching to the C3 red-marked softer compounds, but it took 20 minutes for the lead changed at the top of the time-sheets.
Firstly, Leclerc went to P1 on a 1:30.751, but only completed several slower laps as the drivers saw an early graining phase on the red side-walled compound.
This graining, along with major track evolution on the freshy-laid tarmac, meant the drivers took a few laps before being able to post their best efforts in the hour-and-a-half-long session, with Leclerc eventually being joined at the top of the time-sheets by Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
But it was Albon who set the initial benchmark pace on the softer tyre with a 1:29.627 – after he set a lap time almost a second slower, then a personal best, which was invalidated for running deep at the first corner (Turkish Corkscrew).
Near the 50th minute mark of FP2, Albon lowered the best time to a 1:29.363, at that point the Mercedes duo were taking their first sighting laps on the softer compounds.
Verstappen began charging towards team-mate Albon’s pace in the time-sheets while Bottas and Hamilton started their flyers on the softs, getting to 0.007 seconds just after Albon posted his best effort of the session.
But Verstappen gained more time on another run to take top spot with a 1:28.984, before he was knocked off P1 by Leclerc, who continued to lap on his initial set of softs, and set a 1:28.731.
Verstappen also remained circulating, eventually reclaiming top spot until the session’s end with a 1:28.330.
The Mercedes pairing did find time on the softs – with Hamilton making a stop at one stage, moving up to third and fourth, with Bottas pipping his team-mate just as their run on the softs came to an end as FP2 had 30 minutes remaining on the clock.
Albon rounded out the top five and ahead of Scuderia AlphaTauri pairing Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly who were sixth and seventh respectively.
The aforementioned Vettel was eighth and in-front of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll who took ninth and McLaren’s Lando Norris who completed the top ten.
The other Mercedes-powered RP20 of Sergio Perez ended the afternoon in 11th place and ahead of Renault’s Esteban Ocon who took 12th and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi who finished 13th.
McLaren Racing’s Carlos Sainz was 14th on the time-sheets and in-front of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo who ended FP2 15th and Alfa Romeo’s Raikkonen who wound up 16th.
The two Williams Racing entries of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi were 17th and at the rear respectively with Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen splitting the pairing in-between taking 18th and 19th.
After this the field switched the softs to hards for long-race run data gathering, which saw several spins.
Williams duo Russell and Latifi spun at the exact same time – although at the first and seventh corner, the long, right-hand uphill hairpin respectively – while Raikkonen took a spin at the turn four downhill exit and Kvyat had a 360 at the last corner.
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