Long run analysis: Are Red Bull pulling the wool over Mercedes' eyes?

Max Verstappen started Friday's session promisingly with the fastest time in the first free practice but had to leave that honour to Lewis Hamilton a few hours later. Judging by the numbers, the Dutchman has nothing to worry about though.

Red Bull Racing appeared to be driving with reduced power during the second free practice session, reports Auto, Motor und Sport. This made it possible for Mercedes to finish ahead of Verstappen. In terms of top speed, Hamilton reached 312.7km/h, while Verstappen didn't get further than 311.5km/h. The difference in speed was in a different category last week.

When the simulation programs remove all disturbing factors, Verstappen appears to be a tenth per lap faster than his Mercedes rival for the time being. During the long runs, this even increased to one and a half tenths per lap. On the medium compound, Verstappen drove a time of 1:09:549 in the long runs, while Hamilton could not go faster than 1:09:614. Sergio Pérez was again a tenth slower than Hamilton.

Strong longrun Bottas

Valtteri Bottas made a good impression during the long runs with a fast time of 1:09:437. The Finnish driver finished the second free practice in second position, just behind Hamilton and ahead of Verstappen.