Verstappen Continues to Set Pace in FP2 at Istanbul

By FIA

After topping the morning timesheet at Istanbul Circuit, Max Verstappen repeated his P1 performance in the second practice session for Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix as drivers once again struggled with a lack of grip on the resurfaced track.

Verstappen set an FP2 benchmark of 1:28.330 to eclipse Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by four tenths of a second. Valtteri Bottas was third, with Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton fourth, over eight tenths of a second off the pace. Verstappen’s best time was still more than three seconds off Sebastian Vettel’s pole time in 2011, the last time F1 visited this circuit.

On medium tires, Bottas set the early pace taking P1 with a time of 1:38.443 and then steadily lowering the bar 1:34.940. Verstappen eventually moved ahead, though, the Dutchman also using medium tires to set a lap of 1:32.836. The Red Bull Racing driver’s team-mate Alex Albon then took the top spot by almost a second and the Thai drive dropped the P1 time further still with a lap of 1:30.872.

Shortly before thee half-hour mark drivers began to make the move to soft tires and with around 40 minutes gone Leclerc went quickest on a 1m30.751. Ten minutes later Albon moved ahead with a lap of 1:29.363.

Mercedes then made their move to the red-banded rubber, eventually demoting Albon to fifth, and Verstappen too went out on the soft tires. The Dutch driver took top spot with a tour of 1:28.984, before being outpaced by Leclerc, but the Red Bull man stayed out for a long run on soft compounds tires during which he set the best time of the day.

Albon finished ahead of AlphaTauri pair Kvyat and Pierre Gasly, with Vettel and Lance Stroll taking eighth and ninth. Lando Norris, who completed a long run on the hard tires in the opening phase of the session, rounded out the top 10.

2020 FIA Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:28.330 37 217.556
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.731 0.401 45 216.573
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:28.905 0.575 43 216.149
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:29.180 0.850 39 215.483
5 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 1:29.363 1.033 42 215.042
6 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 1:29.689 1.359 43 214.260
7 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:29.944 1.614 43 213.652
8 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:30.022 1.692 41 213.467
9 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1:30.297 1.967 38 212.817
10 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1:30.907 2.577 39 211.389
11 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 1:31.104 2.774 38 210.932
12 Esteban Ocon Renault 1:31.380 3.050 36 210.295
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:31.493 3.163 39 210.035
14 Carlos Sainz McLaren/Renault 1:31.498 3.168 40 210.024
15 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:31.660 3.330 35 209.653
16 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:31.932 3.602 43 209.032
17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:32.302 3.972 39 208.194
18 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1:32.570 4.240 33 207.592
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:32.807 4.477 37 207.061
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:33.488 5.158 40 205.553