Bottas fastest as Verstappen and Hamilton off the pace

Max Verstappen of Red Bull in action during the practice session for the Formula One Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix at the Losail International Circuit yesterday. PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil

Doha   The two protagonists of the title race – Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton – were left plenty to ponder with as Valtteri Bottas set the pace at yesterday’s practice session for the Formula One Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix. With just 14 points separating the title race leader Verstappen to seven-time champion Hamilton, the focus was naturally on the two but the physically demanding and unfamiliar Losail International Circuit proved difficult to crack. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Bottas was 0.209 seconds quicker than Pierre Gasly, who was impressive in Alpha Tauri. Red Bull’s Verstappen and Hamilton were third and fourth respectively after the second of the practice session was held under lights, with the former just 0.072secs ahead of his title rival. Verstappen was faster than Bottas in the first session, but the Dutchman clearly struggled in the second with rear wing issues troubling him and his teammate Sergio Perez. Hamilton was also fourth in the afternoon but his performance in the evening session – which was deemed more representative of race conditions as it was held under floodlights – will worry the Brit. Today’s qualifying session, which is expected to be tight, will be key for Hamilton to stay in the title race. Bottas, though seemed to have find the right key to unlock Losail Circuit, with the Finn quick on a single lap and very good on a long run. “We’ve started the weekend pretty well with the set-up. The balance felt good, so I only made a few minor tweaks for FP2. That’s an encouraging way to start the weekend at a new track,” Bottas said. “It’s not far off the sweet spot, obviously there’s always work to do and improvements to find and even with driving, you can’t find all the speed available in just two sessions. We’ll keep on working. It’s hard to draw conclusions from today, practice is practice, but the feeling is okay and that’s promising for the rest of the weekend,” he added. With no previous data to work from in Qatar, Hamilton admitted he still didn’t feel entirely comfortable on track. “I don’t even know how big the gap is, but I’m off,” Hamilton said. “I’m definitely not close. I’m a little bit slow, so I need to figure that out tonight.” “Driving-wise, it’s okay,” added Hamilton of the Losail track. “I mean it’s all high-speed corners, so it’s definitely physical, but then the track’s quite nice, no real issues.” Verstappen also felt he had more work to do overnight and will have a better idea of what will work on the track after a debrief session. “It was the first time (we ran) in the evening, so it was important to understand how the car would react,” said Verstappen. “Quite a bit of the change between the medium and the soft tyre I think for me, that’s why on the soft tyre it wasn’t, let’s say amazing, but again you know it’s our first time here, so a lot of things to understand. You need to learn the track a bit, but it’s been a lot of fun to drive to be honest. I think it’s a really cool track,” he added. Lando Norris was fifth fastest for McLaren, 0.422s off the pace, ahead of Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and Perez. Nikita Mazepin – the only other driver along with Perez in the field who’s raced here before – missed the session while his Haas chassis was switched as he damaged his car in FP1.

Second practice timings1. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) Time: 1:23.148; 2. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) +0.209s; 3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.350s; 4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.422s; 5. Lando Norris McLaren +0.484s; 6. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.557s; 7. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) +0.587s; 8. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) +0.639s; 9. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) +0.872s; 10. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +0.885s; 11. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +0.893s; 12. Fernando Alonso (Alpine) +0.908s; 13. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.947s; 14. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) +0.987s; 15. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo Racing) +1.483s; 16. George Russell (Williams) +1.806s; 17. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo Racing) +1.924s; 18. Nicholas Latifi (Williams) +2.061s; 19. Mick Schumacher (Haas) +2.427s; 20. Nikita Mazepin (Haas) DNS Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas arrives at the Losail International Circuit yesterday. (Reuters) PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil