Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Interlagos, 2018

Bottas edges Hamilton by 0.003s in second practice

2018 Brazilian Grand Prix second practice

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Valtteri Bottas led an extremely close one-two for Mercedes in the second practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Just three thousandths of a second separated Bottas from team mate Lewis Hamilton after their qualifying simulation runs on the super-soft tyres.

Ferrari were right on the pace once again as well, Sebastian Vettel lapping seven-hundredths of a second off Bottas’s time. But despite their one-lap pace both cars exhibited signs of tyre blistering during their long runs at the end of the session.

The Red Bull pair separated Vettel from his team mate. Daniel Ricciardo was the quicker of the two, but the morning pace setter Max Verstappen missed much of the first half of the session while his team repaired a cracked oil tower.

Romain Grosjean was seventh – and best of the rest – for the second session in a row. The other occupants of the top 10 were also no different: the other Haas of Kevin Magnussen – which lost its right-hand mirror at the end of practice – Charles Leclerc’s Sauber and Esteban Ocon’s Force India.

Sergio Perez, who sat out the first session while Nicholas Latifi drove his car, backed his team mate up in 11th place. Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren) were just a few hundredths of a second slower.

The session was red-flagged early on after Nico Hulkenberg crashed heavily at Juncao, damaging the right-hand side of his Renault. Hulkenberg climbed out of his car unhurt.

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Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
177Valtteri BottasMercedes1’08.84648
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’08.8490.00343
35Sebastian VettelFerrari1’08.9190.07342
43Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’09.1640.31844
533Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’09.3390.49328
67Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’09.4120.56642
78Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’09.7690.92344
816Charles LeclercSauber-Ferrari1’09.9431.09744
920Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’10.0071.16139
1031Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’10.1591.31345
1111Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’10.3201.47423
1210Pierre GaslyToro Rosso-Honda1’10.3301.48444
1314Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Renault1’10.3321.48636
1455Carlos Sainz JnrRenault1’10.4581.61248
159Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’10.5321.68644
1635Sergey SirotkinWilliams-Mercedes1’10.5691.72346
172Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Renault1’10.5961.75026
1818Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’10.6621.81644
1928Brendon HartleyToro Rosso-Honda1’10.7341.88846
2027Nico HulkenbergRenault1’11.6742.8286

Second practice visual gaps

Valtteri Bottas – 1’08.846

+0.003 Lewis Hamilton – 1’08.849

+0.073 Sebastian Vettel – 1’08.919

+0.318 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’09.164

+0.493 Max Verstappen – 1’09.339

+0.566 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’09.412

+0.923 Romain Grosjean – 1’09.769

+1.097 Charles Leclerc – 1’09.943

+1.161 Kevin Magnussen – 1’10.007

+1.313 Esteban Ocon – 1’10.159

+1.474 Sergio Perez – 1’10.320

+1.484 Pierre Gasly – 1’10.330

+1.486 Fernando Alonso – 1’10.332

+1.612 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’10.458

+1.686 Marcus Ericsson – 1’10.532

+1.723 Sergey Sirotkin – 1’10.569

+1.750 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’10.596

+1.816 Lance Stroll – 1’10.662

+1.888 Brendon Hartley – 1’10.734

+2.828 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’11.674

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

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2018 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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3 comments on “Bottas edges Hamilton by 0.003s in second practice”

  1. Just came here to be pedantic and defend Camões’ language, it is Junção, mot Juncao, but most likely those are not coded in in a UK keyboard

    1. @João *Camoes’

  2. Entire grid is within 1.9 seconds of each other.

    Is the closest we have seen this year ?

Comments are closed.