What went on in second F1 practice for the Qatar GP

Valtteri Bottas topped Formula 1’s second Friday practice session ahead of the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix.

Key moments

> Bottas beats Gasly to top spot
> Verstappen and Hamilton third and fourth
> Kerbs continue to cause damage

Bottas was leading the session on a 1m23.154s before that time was deleted for exceeding track limits.

The outgoing Mercedes driver was caught out by the post-FP1 track limits changes from the FIA, prompting Bottas to sarcastically radio his team “it would have been nice to know before, Michael [Masi, FIA race director].”

Bottas was able to go 0.006s quicker to reclaim a top spot in the session that he’d hold until the end of it.

He was 0.209s quicker than the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly, who was second-fastest in both of Friday’s practice sessions.

The top three was rounded out by F1 championship leader Max Verstappen, who was 0.072s faster than his title rival Lewis Hamilton.

✨ Max is feeling sparky this evening! ✨#QatarGP 🇶🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/fd63yDkuZj

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 19, 2021

Hamilton was followed on the timesheet by two Mercedes-powered cars in Lando Norris (McLaren) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), the latter of whom is looking for his first point since Turkey and suffered a hydraulic issue in FP1.

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Yuki Tsunoda rounded out AlphaTauri’s strong Friday in seventh place as the team looks to overhaul Alpine for fifth in the constructors’ championship this weekend – the two teams are level on points.

The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was over six tenths off Bottas’s benchmark in eighth place, with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and the lead Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.

The Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were 11th- and 12th-fastest ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Mick Schumacher was 19th and slowest as the only Haas driver in the session as his team-mate Nikita Mazepin was forced to miss FP2 with his team carrying out a chassis change after he sustained damage on the kerbs in FP1.

Practice 2 Results