Hamilton outshines Max and his teammate | FP2

 As the second practice race comes to end, the 7th time World Champion once again dominated the circuit and claimed the fastest lap of FP2. Max Verstappen again settled for P2 while Bottas came 3rd. 

Mercedes AMG F1

At a gusty Portimao track – with winds of up 30km/h recorded around the circuit – and after a 10-minute delay to the session start, Hamilton ended up with a 1m 19.837s fastest lap, nearly two-tenths down on teammate Valtteri Bottas’ fastest time from this morning’s Free Practice 1 – Hamilton having finished that session in an underwhelming P5.

Verstappen slotted into second, overcoming a brake-by-wire scare to finish in the same position as he did in FP1 – Red Bull and Mercedes looking closely matched at this stage of the weekend.

Charles Leclerc found himself outgunned by teammate Sainz as he took P7. Meanwhile, it was an encouraging performance from McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, who went eighth fastest, as teammate Lando Norris could only manage P12 – although McLaren is seemingly off the pace so far this weekend, with work for their engineers to do overnight.

AlphaTauri

Lance Stroll was P9 for Aston Martin – comfortably outpacing teammate Sebastian Vettel, who could do no better than P15, as he continues to try and “put the puzzle together” with the AMR21, as he put it on Thursday – as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished a disappointing P10, the Mexican blocked on one of his quick laps by the Haas of Nikita Mazepin.

Having finished sixth in FP1, Pierre Gasly could only take 11th in FP2 as the fastest AlphaTauri driver – the first time the Frenchman has finished outside the top 10 in a practice session this year – ahead of Norris and Williams’ George Russell, the Briton unable to match his P7 heroics from this morning, as he claimed P13.

Standings:-

2021 F1 PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX - FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (2)
POS	DRIVER	NAT.	TEAM	TIME
1	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1m19.837s
2	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	1m19.980s
3	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1m20.181s
4	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m20.197s
5	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Alpine F1 Team	1m20.220s
6	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	1m20.235s
7	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m20.360s
8	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1m20.418s
9	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1m20.427s
10	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	1m20.516s
11	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m20.558s
12	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1m20.757s
13	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	1m20.976s
14	Yuki Tsunoda	JPN	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m21.053s
15	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1m21.074s
16	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m21.225s
17	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m21.238s
18	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m21.537s
19	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1m21.855s
20	Nikita Mazepin	RUS	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m22.638s

Source- Crash.net

-by Amaan Attar