F1 | Qatar GP | Bottas dominates FP2 as Gasly goes second fastest again
F1 closes the first day of track action in Losail with the second session of practice as Valtteri Bottas goes fastest. Verstappen and Hamilton go third and fourth.
During the time between FP1 and the beginning of FP2, it was announced that the Stewards dismissed Mercedes' right of review of last week's incident between Hamilton and Verstappen at Interlagos, you can read all about it here.
The first stint of the session was marked by the fastest time set by Fernando Alonso when the Alpine driver went and lapped with the yellow Pirelli compound, just before the Red Bull and the Mercedes drivers improved the time, altogether with an impressive Yuki Tsunoda who sat P2, 0.490s behind the Dutchman, in an evening that proved productive for the Honda-powered cars.
Gasly is in the zone - again! 👏
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 19, 2021
FP1: P2
FP2: P2 (with 2 mins to go) #QatarGP 🇶🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/K3LrfD557T
While most drivers were in the garages Esteban Ocon took advantage of a free track and clocked a lap that positioned him P5 in the table, highlighting the good performance the A521 is showing. Meanwhile, the Aston Martin drivers sat both comfortably inside the Top 10 as McLaren and Ferrari intercalated the cars all along the table, with halfway to go into the session.
The first time deleted from Race Control came for Valtteri Bottas as the #77 Mercedes driver drove off track at turn 7, while Masi and the race stewards continue to analyze the limits allowed and forbidden in a circuit where F1 had never raced before.
The action seen at the second free practice of the day was significantly run at night time, imitating the hour at which the race will be taking place on Sunday.
When the time was about to end and the cars were on track full of fuel, Max Verstappen's race rhythm was better than Hamilton's, as both drivers were lapping with the softest tyres, even though the one with the fastest race pace on track was Valtteri Bottas with the mediums. The Finn was consistently clocking 1:27.6 laps, ahead of the championship contenders.
Bottas dominated the session with the fastest lap of 1:23.148. The highest McLaren positioned car was Lando Norris sitting 5th as the Ferrari drivers clocked to be 10th and 13th. Pierre Gasly scored a good 2nd position and Tsunoda stayed 7th maintaining AlphaTauri's strong form. The Top 10 was completed by both Aston Martin drivers.
🏁 END OF FP2 🏁
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 19, 2021
Valtteri Bottas finishes Friday fastest 🚀#QatarGP 🇶🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Fbb6gFWSaq
