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George Russell continued the impressive start to his Mercedes debut at the Sakhir Grand Prix, leading his second consecutive Friday practice session in Free Practice 2, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took second again, ahead of Racing Point de Sergio Perez.
It was difficult for any rider to get a perfectly clean lap around the narrow 3.5km track of the Bahrain International Circuit, which is only 0.2km longer than Monaco. But once the qualifying simulations were over, it was Russell who, like in FP1, took the lead in the timesheets with a lap of 54.713 seconds – some two tenths less than in the opening session of the weekend. end.
READ MORE: Sakhir GP is not a shootout between Russell and Bottas for 2022 Mercedes seat, Wolff insists
Valtteri Bottas couldn’t be within three-tenths of his teammate in FP1 – and on paper his performance in FP2 was even worse, with the Finn ending up in P11 and not looking quite comfortable with the shorter circuit configuration.
But after going over the track limits at Turn 8 in his two simulated qualifying laps and either halting the laps or removing them, Bottas is hoping to turn the situation around on Saturday, with that P11 time set on hard tires at the start of this season. the session.
|
1 George Russell RUS Mercedes |
54.713 |
|
2 Max Verstappen WATCH Red bull racing |
+ 0.128 s |
|
3 Sergio Perez THROUGH Race point |
+ 0.153 s |
|
4 Esteban Ocon HOLLOW Renault |
+ 0.227 s |
|
5 Alexander Albon WHITE Red bull racing |
+ 0.323 s |
Behind Russell, Verstappen was 0.128 seconds away, with the Dutchman and Red Bull teammate Alex Albon in fifth complaining of understeer on their RB16s. Perez took an impressive third, just 0.025 seconds behind Verstappen, while a good lap from Esteban Ocon placed him P4, suggesting Renault had a better time with the lower downforce setup required this weekend.
After Albon in fifth place, the AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat, a striking first day for the Russian and his team seeing him finish in front of the second Racing Point of Lance Stroll and the second Renault of Daniel Ricciardo, with Pierre Gasly and the leader McLaren by Carlos Sainz – who complained about a loss of synchronization on his gears halfway through his long run simulation – in P9 and P10, Gasly suffered a fright in the last moments of the session after being painfully punched on the finger by flying gravel.
AS IT HAPPENED – Second practice in Sakhir
Behind Bottas’ time for 11th place, Kimi Raikkonen finished 12th ahead of his Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi – the two Ferrari-powered cars seen tentatively experiencing a tow early in the session on the fast track of the Sakhir GP – while Kevin Magnussen of Haas was 14th, ahead of Williams of Nichol Latifi.
It was a session to forget for Ferrari on Friday night, until then. Sebastian Vettel finished 16th, turning early at Turn 2, then again dramatically just ahead of Magnussen at Turn 5 on his first flight lap in the qualifying simulations, before running wide on another. At least his car was running, with teammate Charles Leclerc suffering from a driveshaft problem after just two laps and failing to set a time.
2020 Sakhir FP2 Grand Prix: Vettel turns at turn 2
Like his teammate, Lando Norris also had issues, passing over a curb and damaging his ground early on, forcing his McLaren team to make repairs, before suffering a problem that sent him back to the pits. The Briton – fourth at the Bahraini Grand Prix five days ago – finished P17, ahead of the two F1 debutants Pietro Fittipaldi of Haas and Jack Aitken of Williams, both of whom kept their noses clean in FP2, while the less time, luck -less Leclerc completed the pitch.
READ MORE: It’s a Red Bull seat or a year on the bench for Albon in 2021, says Horner
So, it was an impressive opening gambit at George Russell’s Mercedes. But with Red Bull looking close to the Silver Arrows, Bottas has yet to really show his true pace, and with FP2 giving us some idea of the qualifying frenzy, there is still a lot to play in Bahrain.
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