The contenders of the world championship have covered themselves, keeping the engine mappings quiet, and the information was collected by the … seconds. Valtteri Bottas soared in the second free practice session of the Qatar GP which took place in the dark, taking Merceds to the top of the time table with a 1’23 “148 obtained with soft compound tires. The Finn performed the performance. he obtained in the second attempt, since his previous best lap was canceled due to a track limit, and the results of the W12 in the long run with medium tires were also excellent.
Chasing the black arrow is not Sergio Perez, but Pierre Gasly with the AlphaTauri: the Frenchman with 1’23 “357 gave an indicative value to the Honda engine’s Red Bull, as Max Verstappen moved up to third place leaving a tenth and a half to the driver of the Faenza team who is confirmed in great shape.
The Dutchman again accused a problem in closing the mobile flap because the DRS command fails to recall the element. The problem was also repeated on Sergio Perez’s RB16B and Adrian Newey also moved to understand what is happening, given that it is three GPs in a row that the Milton Keynes technicians have not found a solution.
The flickering of the moving wing is bad for performance, as is the damage that Max did to the second element of the main profile of the front wing that was replaced. The very high curbs outside the track are doing serious damage to the cars.
Lewis Hamilton broke the sensor on the bulkhead of the front wing that measures the temperature of the tires. The Englishman took four tenths of a second from his teammate, but Lewis did not use the super-engine which will only be mounted tomorrow, using a rotation power unit.
Behind the black arrow is Lando Norris with McLaren: the MCL35 M arrived just 65 thousandths behind the Mercedes, just ahead of Lance Stroll, sixth with Aston Martin. The Canadian has solved the trouble with the brakes that had blocked him in the morning.
Positive Yuki Tsunoda seventh with the second AT02: the Japanese has taken away the luxury of being in front of Sergio Perez who does not seem to digest the Losail track. Sebastian Vettel with the “verdona” is ninth: the German has taken away the pleasure of preceding the two Ferraris that have not impressed.
Carlos Sainz is tenth at eight tenths, while Charles Leclerc is only 13th behind by almost a second. The red was not enthusiastic: this time the car that was approved in Maranello did not seem to adapt to a track that seems difficult. Let’s give the Cavallino technicians time to straighten the shot before giving a definitive judgment, because the gaps in the center of the group are very limited.
The two Alpines are out of the top 10 with Esteban Ocon 11th ahead of Fernando Alonso by 15 thousandths, that is nothing. Daniel Ricciardo did not shine with McLaren and is ahead of Kimi Raikkonen with Alfa Romeo. George Russell with the FW43B slipped between the two C41s of Hinwil, but Antonio Giovinazzi accused some problems on his car.
It should be noted that Nikita Mazepin did not lap: in the first session the chassis of his Haas broke and the mechanics are replacing. Mick Schumacher, last with a time, paid Nicholas Latifi four tenths with Williams.
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