FP2 – Mercedes in control, Verstappen hangs on

This second free practice session at Mugello was more active than the first. After a relatively calm morning, the drivers did not hesitate to take to the track as evidenced by the 7 sets of tires used by Valtteri Bottas.

The Finn is still at work during these FP2. After finishing the first session in the lead, the driver Mercedes did it again and showed ease on Mugello. In fact, he beat his benchmark of 1'17"879 set earlier in the day by almost a second. On the timesheet, Valtteri Bottas displays a time of 1'16"989 and is ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Fourth this morning, the six-time world champion passed second and moved up the rankings by closing in on the Finn. At the finish, the Englishman ranked second, just over two tenths behind Valtteri Bottas' mark (+0“207).

Very close to the No. 77 Mercedes during FP1, Max Verstappen has shown that he will undoubtedly be the main threat for the Silver Arrows in Tuscany. The pilot Red Bull set the third fastest time with a lap completed in 1'17"235. His booth neighbor Alexander albon found better settings than this morning and finished the session in 4th place ahead of the two Renault (Ricciardo 5th and Or with 6e).

Fifth during the first laps of the weekend, Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) fell back in the rankings this Friday afternoon. The winner of the Italian GP finished 8th. The third French, Romain Grosjean, saw his session turn sour. Only a few minutes after the green light, the pilot Haas had to return to his stand due to mechanical problems. Time to record a single time (20th).

After an encouraging first session and a good 3rd place, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) remained behind this afternoon. No doubt using another strategy, the Monegasque came away with the 10th time, almost 1 seconds behind Valtteri Bottas.

Sebastian Vettel he still hasn't found the right settings or his SF1000 doesn't allow him to go any further. The German was ejected from the Top 10 for the second time of the day (13th on the timesheet). He even had to stop his car after the checkered flag after his engine cut off.

End of FP2 Here's how things finished#TuscanGP  #F1 pic.twitter.com/FqwfyilSLs

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 11, 2020

Note that two red flags were waved during FP2. A first shortly before mid-session following the exit of the track of Lando Norris (McLaren) and a second a quarter of an hour from the end after the clash between Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo) and Sergio Pérez (Racing Point).

Land-noooo

Norris walked away from this crash in FP2 #TuscanGP  #F1 pic.twitter.com/ykfauVB7JE

- Formula 1 (@ F1) September 11, 2020