Valtteri Bottas has driven the first time during the second free practice. With a time of 1:17:012 the Mercedes driver stayed ahead of his competitors Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

The Dutch driver was not at all satisfied with his car in the afternoon session. Verstappen complained to his team about understeer, which made him decide to come in after half an hour. The problems resulted in a time of 1:17:310, which was not enough for the Mercedes.

Hamilton also failed to set a faster time than his team mate. The Englishman was only two hundredths of a second short of taking the lead, but did not manage to do so. Sergio Pérez did an excellent job with a fifth time, which brought him close to his team mate. He was unable to keep Esteban Ocon off a fourth time though.

Damage for Tsunoda

Yuki Tsunoda was the only driver who didn't manage to set a time in the afternoon. The car of the Japanese driver had too much damage to go on the track for a long time. Only two minutes before time his team allowed him to go on track. It remains to be seen what this means for AlphaTauri for the rest of the weekend.