Fernando Alonso set the fastest time in the second free practice session of the Brazilian Formula 1 Grand Prix. The alpine driver held Red Bulls Max Verstappen in a session overshadowed by intrigue off the track.
Brazil’s second practice started without a long-awaited decision on Lewis Hamilton’s rear wing housing or Verstappen’s Parc Ferme Dalliance, potential penalties for one of the title contenders hung like a dark cloud over the Interlagos weekend – and the 2021 title fight overall -.
Kimi Raikkonen opened the session with 1: 14.604 minutes on medium-sized tires as all four Alfa Romeo and Haas cars warmed up the track during the opening phase of the hour-long session.
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda took over the lead shortly before the 10-minute mark, but was immediately relegated to Sergio Perez, who drove a 1: 13.219-minute in his soft-fogged Red Bull.
Teammate Verstappen followed suit and immediately established three purple sectors on his way to a 12/1/102 on the softs, while Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas’s second Mercedes leisurely stayed in the garage.
Esteban Ocon from Alpine separated the two Red Bulls with a middle tire lap just under a second ahead of Verstappen, with Pierre Gasly’s second AlphaTauri finishing in the top 5 alongside Tsunoda.
Hamilton and Bottas finally entered the fight after 20 minutes for several cautious rounds on Softs, about two seconds behind the pace in positions 15 and eight.
Hamilton, who will start today’s F1 sprint from pole until a judgment was made on his DRS violation in Friday’s qualifying, circulated without apparently using the overtaking aid of a new, identical Mercedes rear wing, whose original wing assembly always remains was still seized by the FIA for investigation.
After half-time, Perez overtook Ocon and made it a Red Bull 1-2. He was eight tenths behind Verstappen with a lap of 1.12.903 minutes on Medium. Both Red Bulls switched to longer stints on the yellow marked tire.
While the teams focused on preparing for the third and final 100km sprint race of the season that will determine the starting grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix, the top spot in FP2 became a low-hanging fruit for Alonso von Alpine.
With 20 minutes to go, the Spaniard climbed to the top of the softs list and fell eight tenths below Verstappen’s previous benchmark with 1: 11.238 minutes, as the lap times were still more than three seconds away from qualifying on Friday.
Alonso’s time lasted until the end before Verstappen, while Bottas finished third with a late effort on the soft ground, 1.1 seconds behind the Alpine driver.
Ocon finished fourth while Hamilton moved up to P5 during a long stint on soft tires in the final minutes of the session.
Perez finished sixth, followed by Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and the Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
Raikkonen finished in 10th place, just ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
The McLaren couple Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris finished 12th and 13th in front of Gasly, Williams-husband George Russell and Tsunoda.
Sebastian Vettel finished 17th in the second Aston, followed by Nicholas Latifi’s second Williams.
The bottom of the table was a familiar sight when Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin’s two Haas cars supported the timesheets.
Brazil’s F1 sprint begins at 8:30 p.m. UTC, with a decision on Hamilton’s rear wing injury expected shortly.
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