São Paulo – EL2: Alonso ahead of Verstappen before the sprint race

Pending decisions regarding open investigations against Lewis Hamilton et by Max Verstappen Following the qualifying session which saw the Briton set the best time ahead of his Dutch rival, the twenty drivers were back on track this Saturday for the second and final free practice session of the weekend. And it's the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Alpine) who dominated the timesheet on the Interlagos route, ahead of the Red Bull de Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and the Mercedes de Valtteri Bottas. 

The session being held just before the qualifying sprint race which establishes the grid for Sunday's Grand Prix, the drivers were somewhat late in getting out on track. Kimi Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo) was the first to really take the best time at the start of the session, before the Japanese Yuki tsunoda (Alfa Romeo) does not imitate it in 1’13”726. This is the moment that Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to get out of the woods on soft tires. But it was the Dutchman who considerably improved the session mark to 1'12"102, the championship leader being faster than the Mexican by around a second. 

As is often the case in recent weeks, Mercedes took its time before showing itself. Lewis Hamilton indeed came out after 20 minutes, followed by his teammate immediately. As usual in EL2, the session was an opportunity to mainly work on the long stints, with around twenty laps to be put to the credit of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, compared to 42 to Sebastian Vettel, the German having been the one who filed the track the most. 

Twenty minutes from the end, it was Fernando Alonso who set – and by a wide margin – the best time of the session in 1’11”238, far ahead of Max Verstappen (+0”864). The Spaniard seems to have had fun with an open DRS attack lap, probably just to make the colors shine.Alpine like a cyclist taking a breakaway on the Tour de France. His teammate Esteban Ocon (Alpine) finished 4th, just behind Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes), who took third place during his last flying lap. The Frenchman, on the other hand, was the fastest driver in Mediums (1’12″407).

After complaining about a car “unconductable” at the end of the session, Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) finished 14th in the session. Great performance from the Alfa Romeos, both in the Top 10 with Antonio Giovinazzi (7th) and Kimi Räikkönen (10th), only separated by the two Ferrari de Carlos Sainz et Charles Leclerc. Now it’s time for the sprint race. And perhaps, who knows, we will have the right before that to the famous decision concerning Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen… 

As a reminder, FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer noted an anomaly with the removable rear wing of the English driver's W12 on Friday evening after qualifying. When deployed, Hamilton's DRS visibly opened to a space greater than 85 mm, which represents a violation of article 3.6.3 of the technical regulations of the discipline. Summoned on Friday evening, the Englishman saw the decision supposed to be taken against him postponed until Saturday morning, where he again spent an hour in the commissioners' office. 

Concerning Max Verstappen, the Dutchman was also summoned this Saturday morning, for allegedly violating Article 2.5.1 of the FIA ​​International Sporting Code. The law in question states that“Inside the Parc Fermé, access is only permitted to assigned officials. Any operation, verification, preparation or restoration is prohibited unless authorized by the above-mentioned officials or applicable regulations.” A video posted on social media showed the championship leader physically inspecting his rival's rear wing. It remains to be seen whether or not the decision will be made before the sprint race, scheduled for 20:30 p.m. (French time) this Saturday evening. 

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