Formula 1

BOTTAS LEADS PORTUGUESE GP FP2 – STROLL-VERSTAPPEN COLLISION

Published

2 years ago

23/10/2020

BOTTAS LEADS PORTUGUESE GP FP2 - STROLL AND VERSTAPPEN COLLIDE

Verstappen backing off to allow Stroll by at Turn 14 with the Racing Point driver on a flying lap. It looks like Verstappen has assumed Stroll would back off when completing the lap and he was starting his own flying lap but at Turn 1 chaos ensues..

Bottas finished top of the timesheet with a 1:17.940 but all the drama was further down the Formula 1 pecking order as FP2 was red-flagged twice in quick succession.

Pierre Gasly was forced to make a quick escape from his burning AlphaTauri car, while Verstappen and Stroll thought it was race day as they wrestled each other into Turn 1 before colliding with each other.

The two lengthy stoppages meant that the usual afternoon long runs were massively compromised heading into Sunday’s race.

PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX 2020 – PRACTICE 2


POS	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:17.940	32
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	0.595s	34
3	Lando Norris	McLaren	0.803s	35
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	0.898s	34
5	Carlos Sainz	McLaren	1.173s	32
6	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1.235s	34
7	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	1.238s	26
8	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1.368s	27
9	Esteban Ocon	Renault	1.556s	32
10	Alex Albon	Red Bull	1.703s	37
11	George Russell	Williams	1.881s	33
12	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	1.961s	34
13	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	2.047s	28
14	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	2.525s	33
15	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Racing	2.550s	34
16	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	2.740s	29
17	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri	2.789s	33
18	Romain Grosjean	Haas	2.927s	32
19	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	3.043s	26
20	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	3.456s	34

Bottas kept hold of a half a second gap to Verstappen in P2, with Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel rounding off the top five.

Lewis Hamilton was 1.3 seconds off the pace in P7 but his hot laps before the red flag incidents were all aborted, mainly due to tyre warm-up issues.

There were a few more threatening rain clouds hovering above between the end of FP1 and the start of FP2, but it was predominantly blue skies and sunshine as the track lights went green again.ADVERTISEMENTPUBLICITÉ

There was a slight change to the schedule for second practice as the first 30 minutes was dedicated to testing a new Pirelli prototype tyre.

Each team had three sets to use. Two for one driver and one for the other driver, with the latter focusing on a longer run.

Whilst that was something a bit different, one thing staying the same was the driver struggling for grip on this undulating circuit. Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez were amongst the early spinners.

💥 Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll collide pic.twitter.com/GGWWTBSXyL— F1 videos (@goalkajuv2) October 23, 2020

Even though the times during the first half hour of running will not be representative of what is to come in Sunday’s race the top 10 was as follows:

1) Verstappen 1:21.575 2) Bottas Mercedes +0.087s 3) Leclerc +0.410s 4) Perez +0.474 5) Norris +0.509s 6) Hamilton +0.572 7) Sainz +0.616s 8) Ricciardo +0.698s 9) Gasly +0.746s 10) Ocon +0.765s.

With the prototype tyre testing done and dusted, it was back to our regular schedule with some qualifying simulation runs.

Verstappen whittled the best time down to a 1:19.033 on his first hot lap, shaving a tenth off Vettel’s previous best.

STROLL-VERSTAPPEN COLLISION STROLL-VERSTAPPEN COLLISION STROLL-VERSTAPPEN COLLISION