Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas finished the second Friday practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix as the fastest driver and was just 0.027 seconds ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton – with an angry Max Verstappen in third place for Red Bull, almost three-tenths of a second behind the top speed.
Bottas has never taken pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix, compared to team-mate Hamilton’s seven pole positions here. But the Finn spent the whole Friday as the faster of the two Mercedes drivers and drove a fastest time in FP2 of 1: 17.012 seconds, with Bottas being the fastest in the first two sectors – as Hamilton set the fastest time in sector 3.
READ MORE: Red Bull is poised to leave the Silverstone ranks as Horner insists it was “nothing personal” against Hamilton
Hamilton was only 0.027 seconds back, the seven-time champion had overcome a short off in Turn 9 and severe oversteer at the exit of Turn 11 before he crossed the finish line ahead of title rival Verstappen. The Dutchman was the fastest in FP1 but seemed unhappy on team radio in FP2 and complained that his car was “so understeer, it’s unbelievable” when he landed 0.298 seconds behind Bottas.
Esteban Ocon said Thursday that changing the chassis had restored his confidence in his Alpine A521. And Ocon clearly demonstrated this with P4 in the session, 0.747 seconds behind the ultimate pace and ahead of Sergio Perez’s second Red Bull, who complained about vibrations on his soft set of tires.
|
1 Valtteri bottas BOT Mercedes |
1: 17.012 |
|
2 Lewis Hamilton HAM Mercedes |
+ 0.027s |
|
3 Max Verstappen WATCH Red Bull Racing |
+ 0.298s |
|
4th Esteban Ocon HOLLOW alpine |
+ 0.747s |
|
5 Sergio Perez PER Red Bull Racing |
+ 0.812s |
Pierre Gasly finished sixth for AlphaTauri, but it was an unfortunate session for teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who after his hit on Turn 4 into the barrier in FP1, spent most of FP2 in the garage and came out in the final minutes before opening P17 landed.
HOW IT HAPPENS: Relive the action from the second training session on the Hungaroring
After celebrating his 40th birthday yesterday, Fernando Alonso finished seventh, ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin, whose early move to Softs had paid off when he finished eighth. Lando Norris finished ninth as the leading McLaren, ahead of Lance Stroll’s second Aston Martin, who completed a double top 10 finish for the team in green.
Ferrari had been predicted to be strong on a circuit of the Hungaroring that is often described as a Monaco without walls – and Charles Leclerc had clinched pole in Monte Carlo earlier this year. But after Carlos Sainz’s P4 in FP1, neither he nor Leclerc could crack the top 10 on Friday afternoon, Leclerc drove to P11 and Sainz to P12.
FP2 highlights: Hungarian Grand Prix 2021
The 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo was behind McLaren team-mate Norris for the second time in a row when he finished in P13, about four-tenths behind Norris, while Kimi Raikkonen finished 14th in his first outing in the Alfa Romeo C41 took place after handing over his car to Robert Kubica this morning.
READ MORE: Wolff Says Red Bull’s Hamilton comments were “below the belt” – but insists it is time to “de-escalate” the streak.
George Russell finished 15th for Williams, shadowed by team-mate Nicholas Latifi, two tenths behind. After Tsunoda, Mick Schumacher from Haas was 18th, ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo, 19th, while Nikita Mazepin was 20th in the second Haas.
After Red Bull had been fastest on Friday morning, Mercedes turned the tables on Friday afternoon. However, as there is a risk of thunderstorms on Saturday, there is still a lot of uncertainty at the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend.
Hungary GP FP2 2021: Hamilton slips off the track after major oversteer
The post 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix FP2 report and highlights: Bottas leads Hamilton and Verstappen in the second Friday practice session on the Hungaroring first appeared on monter-une-startup.
