The weather was good in the second training session as well as in the first training session in the morning. While the air temperature was around 20 degrees, the runway temperature reached 33 degrees.
The drivers pushed their cars harder than in the first session and tried to use their track time as much as possible before Saturday, when there was a chance of rain.
There were three important events in the session. The first was Charles Leclerc’s spin off but avoiding crashing his car. The second was the accident of Antonio Giovinazzi. The Italian driver lost control of his car in the same place as Leclerc, but was not as lucky. That’s why the back of his vehicle hit the barriers. Although Giovinazzi continued on his way, he pulled over on the team’s instruction. That’s why the red flag was raised.
The last event occurred at the end of the session. Pierre Gasly overflowed the track after Turn 2, climbing over the curbs and breaking his front wing. Therefore, the session ended under yellow flags.
Apart from that, McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo changed the engine after the morning session due to a problem with the power unit and lost the first part of the session. Ricciardo will not be penalized for switching to one of the older engines.
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M
Photo: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
In addition, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton hit the mechanic who was lifting the front of the car during the pit stop. Although the mechanic fell to the ground due to the contact, his condition was good.
The grades were better than in the morning. Switching to a new power unit this weekend, Charles Leclerc took the lead in the first minutes with a time of 1:35,508 on the soft tyre.
Then Valtteri Bottas finished 1:35.298 on the medium tyre, while Leclerc went below 1:35 on the soft tyre, and took the lead again with 1:34.925.
Ratings continued to improve as the session progressed and Fernando Alonso took the fastest lap 1:34,762.
However, after Bottas switched to soft tyre, he dropped below 1:34 and became the fastest name with 1:33,593.
No name was able to beat Bottas in the remaining episode, and Bottas finished both sessions on Friday at the top.
In the session where Mercedes looked strong, Lewis Hamilton was 0.044 seconds behind his teammate and finished second in the second session, just as he did in the first session.
Surprisingly, the closest follower of these two names was AlphaTauri pilot Pierre Gasly. The French driver, who seemed pretty fast in a single lap, was one of only three to get below 1:34 and was third, 0.252 seconds behind.
Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT02
Photo: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
McLaren’s Lando Norris was one of the men who had a strong session, even though he went off the track several times during the session and finished fourth with a lap of 1:34,154, 0.561 seconds behind.
At Alpine, Esteban Ocon was 0.8 seconds behind Bottas’ lap time and finished in fifth place. Although the teammate of the French driver, Fernando Alonso, was the leader for a while, he took the eighth place after being 0.360 seconds slower than him.
Between these two names were Max Verstappen, who was sixth, and Carlos Sainz, who was seventh. Switching to the new engine, Verstappen focused on long rides rather than single lap performance and finished sixth, one second behind. Sainz finished seventh, 0.057 seconds behind Verstappen.
Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc completed the top ten. Vettel was 1.244 seconds behind the leader, while Leclerc was also slower by 1,332 seconds.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF21
Photo: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez failed to make the top ten. The Mexican driver finished the session in 11th place, 0.3 seconds behind his teammate, 1.3 seconds behind the leader.
In Alfa Romeo, Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi set the 12th and 14th fastest times. Between these two was George Russell, who had scored in three of the last four races.
Lance Stroll could not enter the top ten in the second session as well. He finished 15th, 0.5 seconds behind Vettel.
Nicholas Latifi was 16th, Ricciardo was 17th with only 12 laps and Yuki Tusnoda was 18th who was not satisfied with his car. The Japanese pilot was 1.8 seconds behind Gasly.
The top ten was followed by Haas drivers Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher. Mazepin thus passed the German driver in both sessions in his home country.
While all drivers made their fastest laps with soft tires, Leclerc was the 24 urs who made the most laps.
The third training session will start at 12:00 pm on Saturday.
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