Max Verstappen ahead of Lewis Hamilton again as Valtteri Bottas tops FP2 timesheets

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen went quicker than Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in the second free practice session of the Qatar Grand Prix on Friday. Hamilton's Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas set the quickest time of the session.

Although Verstappen only managed to clock the third fastest lap, it was enough to outpace his British title challenger by less than a tenth of a second.

Bottas, who set the fastest lap of 1 minute and 23.148 seconds, was followed by Pierre Gasly, who clocked the second fastest time. The smooth, flat track suited the Finn’s aggressive driving style as he outpaced Hamilton by a significant margin.

Bottas was quicker than Gasly by 0.209 seconds and Verstappen by 0.350 seconds. While the gap between Verstappen and Hamilton was marginal, the same cannot be said about the difference in lap times between Bottas and Hamilton.

The Finn outpaced the Brit by 0.422 seconds as the seven-time world champion struggled to nail his racing line around the circuit.

Meanwhile, McLaren's Lando Norris clocked the fifth fastest lap, followed by Aston Martin's Lance Stroll. Alpha Tauri driver Yuki Tsunoda went seventh fastest and was followed by Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez.

Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel could only set the ninth fastest time, closely followed by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz who was the 10th fastest driver in FP2.

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Lewis Hamilton unable to nail racing line in second free practice session of the Qatar Grand Prix

While Verstappen was plagued by rear-wing issues, Lewis Hamilton slid wide several times and struggled on worn tires.

Due to temperatures dropping from beginning to end of the session and the smooth asphalt, grip levels increased, resulting in faster lap times towards the end.

Most drivers opted to acclimatize themselves to the new circuit by getting as much track time and mileage on their cars as possible. Due to the lack of historical data available for the Losail International circuit, it was important for all drivers to stay out on track as much as they could.

Nikita Mazepin was the only driver to sit out the practice session as he suffered chassis damage in FP1.

Due to the smooth tarmac and Pirelli’s hardest compound tyres allocated for the weekend, tyre degradation is expected to be minimal.

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Full FP2 Results for F1 Qatar Grand Prix 2021

The full Qatar Grand Prix FP2 full classification is as follows :

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:23.148		27
2	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:23.357	+0.209s	27
3	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:23.498	+0.350s	20
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:23.570	+0.422s	25
5	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:23.632	+0.484s	24
6	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:23.705	+0.557s	26
7	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA	1:23.735	+0.587s	28
8	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:23.787	+0.639s	20
9	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	1:24.020	+0.872s	27
10	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:24.033	+0.885s	28
11	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:24.041	+0.893s	29
12	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	1:24.056	+0.908s	25
13	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:24.095	+0.947s	23
14	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:24.135	+0.987s	24
15	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:24.631	+1.483s	26
16	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:24.954	+1.806s	27
17	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:25.072	+1.924s	23
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:25.209	+2.061s	28
19	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	1:25.575	+2.427s	27