Analysis longrun: Verstappen impresses Mercedes

Max Verstappen beat his competitor Lewis Hamilton in the second free practice. The Dutchman drove the fastest time, while Hamilton had to settle for third place. In terms of long runs, however, there is less to predict.

In the second free practice session most drivers decided to use the medium compound during the long runs. Verstappen drove no less than thirteen laps on this tyre, on which he recorded a time of 1:21:092. With this time he was over seven hundredths of a second faster than his teammate Sergio Perez and set the fastest lap. The difference with number three Sebastian Vettel was even eight tenths.

The comparison with Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton is difficult. The drivers drove respectively a time of 1:21:670 and 1:21:742, but did this on the softest compound of the weekend. This was remarkable, because it is not expected that the teams will voluntarily choose the red tyre during the race. Bottas and Hamilton also drove on the hard tyre. While Bottas registered a time of 1:21:084, Hamilton was over three tenths slower. Bottas was faster on his hard tyre than Verstappen on the medium compound.

In terms of times, Mercedes can be seen to be competitive with Red Bull on the long runs, but the Austrians impressed throughout the rest of the free practice sessions. Historically, Red Bull have had more speed than Mercedes during the race, but this season has shown that a surprise is possible.