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FP2 REPORT | Verstappen holds another top time!

FP2 REPORT | Verstappen holds another top time!

25-06-2021 14:24 Last update: 15:29

Rishi Wig

Free Practice 2 came to a close in the Red Bull Ring in amongst the Styrian hills. Here's how things looked in the hour-long session.

The top 10

Both Aston Martin & Alpine showed strong performance during the session, with Vettel and Ocon briefly leading the timing sheets. Verstappen then arrived on the scene and claimed the lead, holding with three tenths to spare from Ricciardo & OconHamilton held fourth, around 0.384 seconds behind the championship leader. Antonio Giovinazzi had a good time as well, holding tenth with the fastest time in the speed traps. The Alpines came a comfortable third and fifth for Ocon and Alonso.

Rougher showings

Sergio Perez remained in ninth by the end of the session. Bottas had an even worse time, languishing in P12 around 0.8 behind the lead time, evidently unable to extract the most pace from his car. Both Ferraris seem to be continuing their struggles from France, with Carlos Sainz in 11th and Charles Leclerc 13th. Yuki Tsunoda remained a distant 15th, unable to reach the heights of his teammate from FP1. Russell, Schumacher, Mazepin and Latifi rounded out the bottom four

A few moments

Pierre Gasly was immediately ruled out of an appearance in FP2, with Honda needing to take a look into the power unit. Several drivers struggled early on with the weather conditions, with many locking up or going wide at turns 3 and 4. Nicholas Latifi, Nikita Mazepin and Carlos Sainz all ha a few moments, each taking a spin through the gravel. Bottas took a spin from his pit-box, attempting to lay down rubber for better launches for his pitstops, before getting straightened up by a few generous McLaren personnel. Fewer drivers suffered from track extension issues on fast laps, with most occurring from errors due to changing grip conditions.