Mercedes stayed on top in F1 French GP second free practice session as Valtteri Bottas led teammate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
After Hamilton topped the FP1 session at Circuit Paul Ricard, it was teammate Bottas who had his way in the FP2 session in F1 French GP with the quickest time of 1m30.937s ahead of Hamilton (1m31.361s) and Leclerc (1m31.586s) in the Top 3.
Hamilton couldn’t set a quick lap time after his off moment when he lost control and slid into the bollard and nearly came in the way of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. The FIA stewards though put the unsafe re-joining under investigation.
The Dutchman as well went off and eventually couldn’t improve on his earlier time. Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel (1m31.665s) was fourth on the road with McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m31.882s) shining in fifth from Verstappen (1m32.049s).
Despite having an issue at the rear of the car, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (1m32.432s) slotted in seventh to make it a sound day for the Woking-based team with Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly (1m32.448s) in eighth from Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m32.677s).
It was a decent session for the Finn after the struggles they have had. The Top 10 was rounded out by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m32.789s) with Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi (1m32.973s) in 11th from leading Renault of Daniel Ricciardo (1m33.020s).
Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon (1m33.023s) was again ahead of teammate Daniil Kvyat (1m33.254s) with the Thai racer in 13th and the Russian in 15th, while Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m33.081s) slotted in between them. The German had an off moment as well.
Behind them were Racing Point duo sandwiching Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m33.591s) with Sergio Perez (1m33.300s) in 16th and Lance Stroll (1m33.884s) 18th. The Frenchman had a torrid run after missing much of FP1 after he destroyed his hard tyres with a lock-up.
The vibrations forced him to pit and wait it out for his soft compound run. Williams’ George Russell (1m34.614s) was back in the car after Nicholas Latifi drove in FP1 with the British racer in 19th from Robert Kubica (1m35.195s).
UPDATE: The FIA stewards cleared Hamilton of any offence for the mishap with Verstappen as they felt he didn’t re-join the track in unsafe manner to cause any trouble. They noted that Hamilton looked into the mirror multiple times before re-joining.
The statement said: “The drivers agreed that the situation was not particularly dangerous and did not give Verstappen a lasting disadvantage in this Practice Session. Both drivers agreed that the limited rear visibility and the angle of Car 44 made it difficult for Hamilton to see the approaching car and agreed that Hamilton re-joined slowly.
“The Stewards could observe from the on-board video that Hamilton looked in his mirrors at least twice before attempting to re-join the circuit.”
French GP: Hamilton leads FP1 from Bottas by 0.069s at Paul Ricard
