Valtteri Bottas again led a Mercedes one-two, finishing 0.044s ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the second free practice session for the 2021 Russian Grand Prix at Sochi Autodrom. Pierre Gasly, who lost his front wing in the final minute of the session, finished third, ahead of the McLaren of Lando Norris. The big news of the session is the confirmation of Max Verstappen taking a brand new power unit which will see the world championship leader start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid, alongside Charles Leclerc.
Scuderia Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc completed the Maranello team’s testing programme without any major issues, focusing on the qualifying performance, but most importantly on the long-run simulations, given the fact that the qualifying session on Saturday will most likely take place in wet conditions, while no rain is predicted for the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday. However qualifying could be shifted to Sunday morning in the event of rain not abating, though current forecasts indicate a potential improvement towards the end of Saturday.
Carlos Sainz finished FP2 in seventh place, with a personal best lap time of 1:34.678, which was about one second slower than the afternoon benchmark of Valtteri Bottas. Charles Leclerc encountered some traffic issues on his fast laps and only managed a 1:34.925, finishing in P10.
With 25 minutes to go Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi crashed his Alfa Romeo, as the session was red-flagged. He’s understeered at Turn 8 – just like Charles Leclerc – and hit the barriers. The session was suspended to recover the car, and fix the barriers.
Saturday’s final practice session is scheduled for 12:00 local time
Here are the complete results from the second free practice ahead of this weekend’s 2021 F1 World Championship race at Sochi.
Results (Classification):
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes – 1:33.593
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.044
Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +0.252
Lando Norris McLaren +0.561
Esteban Ocon Alpine +0.809
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +1.028
Carlos Sainz Scuderia Ferrari +1.085
Fernando Alonso Alpine +1.169
Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +1.244
Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari +1.332
Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +1.345
Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo +1.459
George Russell Williams Racing +1.501
Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo +1.585
Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.741
Nicholas Latifi Williams Racing +1.818
Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +2.037
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +2.361
Nikita Mazepin Haas +2.506
Mick Schumacher Haas +2.637
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