Türkiye – EL2: Hamilton continues, Leclerc in the mix in Istanbul

It was in a relatively calm session where the focus of work was more focused on long relays that Lewis Hamilton rose to the top of the rankings for the second time of the day. Winner in Turkey last year, the seven-time world champion recorded the best time, improving his reference from this Friday morning.

His W12 probably at ease on asphalt which shows better grip compared to last year's ice rink, the driver Mercedes completed his fastest lap in 1'23"804. Before that, however, the Briton had to put on soft tires to manage to dislodge Charles Leclerc, in the lead for around ten minutes with a time of 1'24"102. The Monegasque finally fell one place to finish only 166 thousandths behind his counterpart. The Top 3 was completed by Valtteri Bottas (+0“410), very active on the track with 31 laps under his belt.

Bothered by vibrations at the front right of his RB16B, Max Verstappen completed 23 laps of Istanbul Park this Friday afternoon. Second in EL1, the Dutchman this time settled for the 5th mark, more than 6 tenths behind Lewis Hamilton, just behind his teammate Sergio Pérez.

Behind, we find a group shot of drivers separated by a little more than 2 tenths with Lando Norris 6th followed by Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly and Antonio Giovinazzi. On a completely different strategy and already working on his comeback on Sunday, Carlos Sainz was the most diligent on the track with 34 laps covered, more than any other comrade in this 2nd session, for the 12th time at the finish. The Madrilenian notably completed a long stint on medium tires (29 laps) in order to collect a lot of data to best prepare his racing tactics.

On the side of McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo does not seem to find rhythm in Türkiye. Twelfth this Friday morning, the Australian suffered again and was thus unable to do better than 14th, more than 1″2 behind Lewis Hamilton. At the back of the grid, things have not changed either since the Haas (mazepin 20th and Schumacher 19th) and the Williams (Russell 18th and Latifs 17th) brought up the rear again.