Hamilton doubles up as records tumble and Verstappen struggles

Lewis Hamilton made it a clean sweep in Friday practice for the Turkish Grand Prix after edging out Charles Leclerc in FP2.

The Mercedes driver lowered the lap record he had set around Istanbul Park in the first session with a one minute 23.804secs, beatring the Ferrari by 0.166s.

Valtteri Bottas beat both Red Bulls to third, 0.410s adrift of Hamilton after an hour of running where car balance was hard to find.

Max Verstappen finished fifth behind team-mate Sergio Perez after suffering from the same understeer that hampered his morning running.

Nicholas Latifi was the only driver to rotate his car at turn nine, making the mistake twice, although numerous others struggled to find their range at the same chicane with a tailwind ensuring picking a braking point was difficult throughout.

Lando Norris was one such driver to scamper across the run-off area at that location but recovered to set the sixth-fastest time on his second flying lap, whilst Alpine continued its form with Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon seventh and eighth.

Pierre Gasly's time of a 1:24.756s ensured the top nine had set a time faster than Juan Pablo Montoya's previous fastest lap of the circuit, with Antonio Giovinazzi fractionally slower to round out the top 10.

AlphaTauri driver Gasly did spin late on at turn six, moments after complaining that his "arms were too short" to cope with the understeer he was dealing with, whilst Nikita Mazepin was the first of the weekend to lose control at turn eight.

During medium tyre running, Leclerc was 0.099secs faster than Hamilton with Verstappen only seventh fastest, almost a second away.

There was some drama at the end of the session with Ocon stranded on the grid, failing to select a gear when attempting a practice start.

Turkish Grand Prix second practice results

1. Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] 1:23.804

2. Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] +0.166

3. Valtteri Bottas [Mercedes] +0.410

4. Sergio Perez [Red Bull] +0.569

5. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] +0.635

6. Lando Norris [McLaren] +0.721

7. Fernando Alonso [Alpine] +0.856

8. Esteban Ocon [Alpine] +0.868

9. Pierre Gasly [AlphaTauri] +0.952

10. Antonio Giovinazzi [Alfa Romeo] +0.992

11. Yuki Tsunoda [AlphaTauri] +1.078

12. Carlos Sainz [Ferrari] +1.099

13. Lance Stroll [Aston Martin] +1.216

14. Daniel Ricciardo [McLaren] +1.256

15. Kimi Raikkonen [Alfa Romeo] +1.339

16. Sebastian Vettel [Aston Martin] +1.425

17. Nicholas Latifi [Williams] +1.503

18. George Russell [Williams] +1.554

19. Mick Schumacher [Haas] +1.676

20. Nikita Mazepin [Haas] +1.894

Related

Turkish Grand Prix

Hamilton 'giving no energy' to Mercedes engine troubles

• October 17, 2021 08:00

Red Bull

Perez podium a "great shot of confidence" for Red Bull title tussle - Horner

• October 15, 2021 17:10