Verstappen tops FP2, Bottas in ‘ridiculous’ pitlane spin

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fastest for a second successive Formula 1 practice session at the Styrian Grand Prix, while Valtteri Bottas spun in the pitlane.

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Key moments:

> Verstappen quickest for Red Bull again
> Faster Hamilton time deleted
> Bottas spins in the pitlane
> Ricciardo second-fastest for McLaren
> Gasly absent due to engine issue

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Championship leader Verstappen beat his morning benchmark by half a second to go quickest in FP2, despite drops of rain threatening to disrupt running.

Verstappen’s 1m05.412s put him over three tenths clear of his former Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who was a surprise-second fastest for McLaren.

Esteban Ocon completed the top three for Alpine, his best effort was just 0.042s slower than Ricciardo’s.

With under 20 minutes of the session, Bottas spun his Mercedes in the pitlane shortly after leaving his pit box on the hard tyres.

Valtteri Bottas spins in the pit lane after being released

He does very well to keep the car under control and avoid the barriers. He's helped by the McLaren team and he's now back on track#StyrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/bRoftghlqA

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 25, 2021

Bottas managed to avoid making contact with anything, but he had to be pushed back by the McLaren mechanics who Bottas spun in front of. The team complained to race director Michael Masi on the radio that its crew had been put in danger.

Bottas could only manage the 12th-quickest time while his team-mate, defending champion Lewis Hamilton was fourth-fastest. Bottas will also face a post-session investigation into the incident, and will report to the stewards at 4.20pm local time.

Hamilton did set a time good enough to top the session, a 1m05.335s, but fell foul of track limits at the final corner.

Fernando Alonso rounded out the top five to solidify a strong Friday for Alpine, which also got both cars inside the top seven in FP1.

Fellow F1 champion Sebastian Vettel was sixth-quickest for Aston Martin ahead of Lando Norris – recovering from a tricky FP1 session where he was 16th-fastest.

Vettel’s Aston team-mate Lance Stroll was eighth, while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was ninth-fastest.

The top 10 was rounded out by Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi. He was just 0.002s faster than the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, who spun after touching the gravel at Turn 5.

Carlos Sainz runs wide and spins at Turn 5 🔄

But he's already back on track and everything appears fine. He is currently running in P11#StyrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Bh7ayhYqgR

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 25, 2021

Sainz’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc was 13th-fastest, one place behind Bottas.

Nicholas Latifi fell victim to the Turn 6 left-hander and spun his Williams into the grass. He registered the slowest time of the 19 drivers who set a flying lap.

Nicholas Latifi goes for a high-speed spin on the exit of Turn 6

He then nurses his car back to the pits to see if there is any damage#StyrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/3tVgGIbdpM

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 25, 2021

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was second-quickest in first practice, but he missed the entirety of FP2 as Honda had to assess his engine after finding an issue in his FP1 data.

Practice 2 Results