Max Verstappen On Top Again For Free Practice Two At The Turkish Grand Prix

Max Verstappen topped the second Friday practice session at the Turkish Grand Prix as conditions at the Intercity Istanbul Park track began to improve.

The drivers were able to get in the groove of the track this time round after the first session was marred by difficult track conditions. Most drivers lacked grip with a few citing that it felt like they were driving on ice. It seemed for the second session, the track warmed up and drivers were final able to get out on the soft compound tyres.

The fastest time in the first practice was 1:35.077, a huge difference from the 1:28.330 time Verstappen recorded in the second practice.

Verstappen found himself on top for the second time today, but his Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team-mate Alexander Albon looked like he would have been the one on top after spending a large chunk of the session in first. In the end, he finished fifth.

Charles Leclerc continued on having great weekend, putting his Scuderia Ferrari into second. Even through the issues the track has given him, he’s gave his all and showing that Ferrari can be great again. His team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished in eighth.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton couldn’t break into the top two. There was talk during the session that the two drivers were trialling their race pace more than a qualifying pace. Bottas finished third with Hamilton in fourth.

Scuderia AlphaTauri found themselves ‘best of the rest’ again with Daniil Kyvat in sixth and Pierre Gasly in seventh.

The three constructors battling for third, Renault DP World F1 Team, McLaren F1 Team and BWT Racing Point Formula One Team, did not have the best of sessions. The highest any of the drivers finished was Racing Point’s Lance Stroll. His team-mate Sergio Pérez finished eleventh. 

The McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr. finished tenth and fourteenth respectively. However, neither of the Renault pairing broke into the top ten, a rarity compared to the team’s recent pace. Esteban Ocon finished twelfth with Daniel Ricciardo in fifteenth, over three seconds of the fastest time.

Elsewhere, Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN duo of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Räikkönen finishing thirteenth and sixteenth respectively. Haas F1 Team finished with Romain Grosjean in eighteenth with team-mate Kevin Magnussen just behind him in nineteenth.

Williams Racing duo of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi both took a spin on the track in the same out lap proving that even in the second session, the grip wasn’t 100% there. Russell finished seventeenth with Latifi last in twentieth. 

Pos	#	Driver	Nat.	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	33	Max Verstappen	NED	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	1:28.330		37
2	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1:28.731	0.401	44
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:28.905	0.575	42
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:29.180	0.850	39
5	23	Alexander Albon	THA	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	1:29.363	1.033	41
6	26	Daniil Kvyat	RUS	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1:29.689	1.359	42
7	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1:29.944	1.614	42
8	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Scuderia Ferrari	1:30.022	1.692	41
9	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	BWT Racing Point Formula One Team	1:30.297	1.967	37
10	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:30.907	2.577	39
11	11	Sergio Pérez	MEX	BWT Racing Point Formula One Team	1:31.104	2.774	37
12	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Renault DP World F1 Team	1:31.380	3.05	36
13	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:31.493	3.163	38
14	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	ESP	McLaren F1 Team	1:31.498	3.168	40
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	Renault DP World F1 Team	1:31.660	3.330	34
16	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:31.932	3.602	42
17	63	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	1:32.302	3.972	38
18	8	Romain Grosjean	FRA	Haas F1 Team	1:32.570	4.24	32
19	20	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	1:32.807	4.477	37
20	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1:33.488	5.158	40