Max Verstappen led the second practice session for the Styrian Formula 1 Grand Prix on Friday afternoon after title rival Lewis Hamilton lost his fastest time by violating the track limits.
After Verstappen had set the pace earlier in the day in FP1 at the Red Bull Ring, he emerged as an early leader in second practice and drove the fastest laps on hard compound tires with Hamilton in a Mercedes.
The drivers spent the first part of the session with an eye on the weather, as there was an 80% chance of rain, but managed to finish all drives on dry tires with just a few raindrops.
Verstappen set the pace for Red Bull on the Hards before switching to the softs a little later than Hamilton, who was the fastest on his first run on the red area with a time of 1: 05.796 minutes.
Hamilton finished a second run on the softs and reduced his time by four tenths of a second to 1: 05.335 minutes – only to skip the lap because he had exceeded the track limits.
Reruns showed Hamilton struggling to keep his car within the lane at the exit of the fast right turn, but when he got all four wheels over the red and white curb, the time was erased.
This meant that Verstappen – who crossed the finish line just moments after Hamilton – inherited first place thanks to his best lap of 1: 05.412 minutes, which he missed by a tenth on his second attempt on the softs.
By canceling the laps, Hamilton finished fourth in the last time table after Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren and Esteban Ocon of Alpine both climbed into the top 3 with their soft tire runs.
Ocon had briefly led FP2 with a lap of 1: 05.790 minutes before Verstappen went faster.
Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas struggled to match their respective teammates at Red Bull and Mercedes in FP2. Perez finished the session in ninth place, while Bottas finished in 12th place after being one of the first riders to ride the soft tires for a period.
One bizarre moment for Bottas was spinning in the pit lane as he drove out of his Mercedes box on cold tires and pointed his car at the pit wall. Fortunately, he dodged the nearby McLaren mechanics who quickly helped turn the car around.
McLaren quickly reported the incident to FIA Race Director Michael Masi, calling it “absolutely ridiculous” and warning Bottas that “could have gotten our boys out of there”. The stewards will investigate the incident after the meeting.
Fernando Alonso ensured that both Alpine riders took the lead by finishing fifth in FP2, finishing 0.037 seconds behind Ocon’s lap, while his world champion Sebastian Vettel finished sixth for Aston Martin.
Lando Norris finished seventh for McLaren ahead of Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin car, followed by Perez in ninth place for Red Bull. Antonio Giovinazzi completed the top 10 for Alfa Romeo.
Ferrari had a tough session with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finishing 11th and 13th respectively. Sainz was lucky enough to keep going after spinning on the curb early on Turn 5, while Leclerc reported that he struggled on his best lap on soft tires.
Kimi Raikkonen finished 14th for Alfa Romeo ahead of Yuki Tsunoda from AlphaTauri, with George Russell Williams leading in 16th place and finishing ahead of Haas driver Mick Schumacher.
Nikita Mazepin and Nicholas Latifi spun within two minutes of the first half of the session, but both were able to continue and ended the session in 18th and 19th places. Latifi spun his Williams after hitting the gravel at the exit of Turn 6, while Mazepin ran far at Turn 4.
Pierre Gasly was banned from FP2 shortly before the session started after Honda was forced to do a lengthy drive check after noticing some erratic data from opening practice. The Frenchman spent the FP2 with the engineers on the AlphaTauri pit wall.
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