Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the second free practice session in F1 Austrian GP, which saw multiple crashes.
Leclerc set a 1m05.086s time to lead the F1 Austrian GP FP2 session at Red Bull Ring, which saw two heavy crashes for Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas on separate occasions, resulting in two red flag situation.
Verstappen lost the rear at Turn 10 and slid across the run-off and hit the barrier, suffering from rear damage. The session was red flagged immediately but when it went green, it was Bottas’ turn to crash at Turn 6 after going across the gravel and damage the front-end.
There was another red flag but Bottas stayed second with a 1m05.417s as the plans were ruined for many others, who wanted to set their qualifying lap. There was nearly another crash for Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, when he lost out at Turn 9-10 but didn’t hit the barrier.
With Bottas second, Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly (1m05.487s) ended up third with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (1m05.529s) fourth from McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (1m05.545s) – who also had an off at Turn 6 – with Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m05.701s) in sixth.
Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m05.728s) slotted in seventh with Vettel (1m05.871s) eighth ahead of Verstappen (1m05.879s), who set his time on the medium compound. McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m05.952s) rounded out the Top 10.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m05.960s) did well in 11th with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez (1m05.964s) 12th ahead of Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon (1m06.064s) and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi (1m06.119s) – the Italian almost collided with Leclerc as well.
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat (1m06.148s) slotted in 15th from Renault duo of Nico Hulkenberg (1m06.249s) and Daniel Ricciardo (1m06.418s) – both of whom did not get their quickest time in and like many others, put their focus on longer runs.
The standings was completed by Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (1m06.829s) in 18th ahead of Williams’ George Russell (1m07.217s) and Robert Kubica (1m08.508s).
Austrian GP: Hamilton leads Vettel on soft tyre as FP1 ends under red flag