EL2: Verstappen's response for 8 thousandths in France

After Bottas' best time this morning, Max Verstappen was keen to respond this afternoon. The championship leader clocked a 1.32.872 when switching to soft tires. He thus advances Valtteri Bottas for 8 thousandths. Note that the Finnish driver achieved his best time on medium tires. The top 3 is completed by the other Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion is 253 thousandths behind his championship rival's time. 

The nice surprise of these FP2s is on the home side Alpine and its leader Fernando Alonso. “The bull of Asturias” climbs to 4th place with a 1.33.340 and signing the best second sector. His teammate Or with, which extended with Alpine for several seasons, finished these FP2s in 6th place, 4 tenths behind Alonso. 

Both Alpine are separated by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Eleventh this morning, the Monegasque gives color to the Team with 5th place. The top 10 is completed by gasly (7th), Sainz (8th), Raïkkönen (9th) and Norris (10th). 

The poor performances of this afternoon should be put on the side of Sergio Perez, only 12th. The winner of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix fails 1 second behind his teammate. Same observation for Ricciardo. Author of a good FP1 session this morning, we only find the Australian driver in 14th place in FP2. THE Aston Martin have also been in great difficulty since the start of this day. Sebastian Vettel ranks 15th in front of his teammate Lance stroll (16th). 

A very calm session, but which nevertheless saw the intervention of the VSC after 15 minutes of session. The cause ? Max Verstappen climbing a curb at the end of the circuit. Same sanction as for Valtteri Bottas this morning: the championship leader saw a piece of his front wing fly off onto the track.

There will now be one free practice session tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. The qualifying session is scheduled for 15:00 p.m. (French time).

Here's how FP2 finished #FrenchGP  #F1 pic.twitter.com/6BIKVUu9kI

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 18, 2021