EL2 – Bottas in the lead again, Gasly in the Top 3

The man of the day in Imola is called Valtteri Bottas. Like his morning session, the pilot Mercedes showed himself once again to be the fastest in the field this Friday afternoon.

In a session where he started with fast laps before focusing on long stints, the Finn improved his morning mark thanks to a time of 1'15"551 compared to 1'16"564 earlier in the day.

Second in EL1, Lewis Hamilton still ranked behind his teammate but only 10 thousandths. He too was able to improve his times from the first session.

Definitely at ease on this circuit, Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) stood up to the big names with a third time less than a tenth from Valtteri Bottas. At the finish, the Norman was ahead of the two drivers Ferrari, Carlos Sainz et Charles Leclerc. The latter was also the victim of a small outing with major damage at the end of the session.

This free practice session ended like the first with a red flag! Charles Leclerc loses the rear and hits the wall at low speed #ImolaGP pic.twitter.com/XFbTZSZJeL

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) April 16, 2021

On the mat after contact with Esteban Ocon (Alpine) at the start of the day, Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) arrives 6th in front Yuki tsunoda (Alpha Tauri), Lando Norris (McLaren), Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) and Lance stroll (Aston Martin).

Spanish Fernando Alonso (Alpine) finished far behind with a mediocre 13th place, almost 1” from the lead. Forced to stop on the track for a problem with the transmission shaft visibly, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) could not do better than 14th, just one Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) still in difficulty.

VSC has ended, we are green again 

However, @Max33Verstappen's bad luck continues in Italy #ImolaGP  #F1 pic.twitter.com/0pDaohGNhx

- Formula 1 (@ F1) April 16, 2021

George Russell (Williams), Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), and the two drivers Haas, Mick Schumacher et Nikita mazepin, bring up the rear.