Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas continued to lead the way in F1 Russian GP FP2 as Lewis Hamilton was second with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo in third.
Bottas continued to lead the way in F1 Russian GP FP2 session at Sochi with a 1m33.519s as he led Hamilton (1m33.786s), who had multiple offs looking for grip. Not just the Brit but even the Finn would have more time find, after troubles on their respective laps.
Towards the end of the session, Bottas complained about steering issues but he continued on after some checks. While Mercedes headed the pack, Red Bull Racing were far off as Renault’s Ricciardo ended up third with a 1m34.577s.
The two McLaren pair did well with Carlos Sainz (1m34.723s) returning from Russian GP FP1 crash to be fourth ahead of Lando Norris (1m34.847s), with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez (1m34.890s) sixth despite not having the full upgrades.
As mentioned, Red Bull did look that great as Max Verstappen (1m35.048s) was only seventh after he had offs at Turn 1 and also Turn 14 – on both of his quick runs. He led Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1m35.052s), who was just 0.004s off behind him.
Renault’s Esteban Ocon (1m35.139s) was ninth as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel (1m35.183s) rounded out the Top 10, with the Italian manufacturer having a better start to the Russian GP weekend. They have aero upgrades but it is more towards 2021 season.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (1m35.210s) did well in 11th as Red Bull’s Alexander Albon (1m35.242s) was only 12th but remarkably he was only two-tenths off Verstappen. The other AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat (1m35.461s) was 13th.
Behind the Red Bull trio was Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen (1m35.516s) as he led Williams duo of Nicholas Latifi (1m35.563s) and George Russell (1m35.575s) as the Canadian came back well from his Russian GP FP1 crash.
Strangely, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (1m35.627s) was only 17th from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m35.729s), Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi (1m36.053s) and Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m36.858s).
Here’s how F1 Russian GP FP1 panned out
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