Max Verstappen stayed on top of the times in the second Friday practice session at Istanbul Park, as the slippery track surface began to yield more grip.
The recently resurfaced track, which had been damp at the start of the day, dried out before the second sessions. It proved a slow process, with no other cars on-track to clean it up, and track and air temperatures rising by just one degree.While most teams ran the hard tyres during first practice, the medium and soft compounds were favoured in the second session. Romain Grosjean, who was among the drivers to start the session on hards, made it clear he was keen to switch to softer rubber following an early spin.
The medium tyres took around six or seven laps to yield competitive times. Temperatures proved hard to maintain and drivers were repeatedly instructed to push their brakes where possible, to keep them within the right thermal window.
Esteban Ocon reported his car was turning left under braking, which the Renault pit wall explained as due to a brake temperature imbalance. Other drivers reported similar problems in first practice.
Verstappen and team mate Alexander Albon exchanged the fastest time for most of the first hour of the session. Albon was the first driver to lap the track in less than 90 seconds and ran long stints on both soft and medium tyres, still finding more pace after more than five laps. That may not prove to be the case have any bearing for race or qualifying stints, as the track evolves and cars are able to carry more speed.
Multiple drivers had relatively harmless spins during the session, losing rear grip. George Russell, Nicholas Latifi and Kimi Raikkonen took spins in quick succession and finally Daniil Kvyat, in the final minutes of the session. All drivers were able to continue.
The three teams locked in a fight for third place in the constructors’ championship languished at the bottom of the top 10 and second half of the times. Lance Stroll and Lando Norris were the only drivers for Racing Point, Renault and McLaren to breach the top 10 and the rest were bunched behind them down to Daniel Ricciardo in 15th.
AlphaTauri, who had been front of the midfield this morning, again showed promise by taking sixth and seventh fastest while Ferrari seemed to be more on the pace than usual, Leclerc challenging Verstappen for fastest time during the final fifteen minutes of the session.
Overall, lap times fell by more than five seconds compared to first practice, but remain well shy from the expected times. Contrary to expectations, no one appears to have tackled turn eight flat-out yet.
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Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’28.330 | 37 | |
2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’28.731 | 0.401 | 45 |
3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’28.905 | 0.575 | 42 |
4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’29.180 | 0.850 | 39 |
5 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’29.363 | 1.033 | 42 |
6 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’29.689 | 1.359 | 43 |
7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’29.944 | 1.614 | 43 |
8 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’30.022 | 1.692 | 41 |
9 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’30.297 | 1.967 | 38 |
10 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’30.907 | 2.577 | 39 |
11 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’31.104 | 2.774 | 38 |
12 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’31.380 | 3.050 | 36 |
13 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’31.493 | 3.163 | 39 |
14 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’31.498 | 3.168 | 40 |
15 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’31.660 | 3.330 | 35 |
16 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’31.932 | 3.602 | 43 |
17 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’32.302 | 3.972 | 39 |
18 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’32.570 | 4.240 | 33 |
19 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’32.807 | 4.477 | 37 |
20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’33.488 | 5.158 | 40 |
Second practice visual gaps
Max Verstappen – 1’28.330
+0.401 Charles Leclerc – 1’28.731
+0.575 Valtteri Bottas – 1’28.905
+0.850 Lewis Hamilton – 1’29.180
+1.033 Alexander Albon – 1’29.363
+1.359 Daniil Kvyat – 1’29.689
+1.614 Pierre Gasly – 1’29.944
+1.692 Sebastian Vettel – 1’30.022
+1.967 Lance Stroll – 1’30.297
+2.577 Lando Norris – 1’30.907
+2.774 Sergio Perez – 1’31.104
+3.050 Esteban Ocon – 1’31.380
+3.163 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’31.493
+3.168 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’31.498
+3.330 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’31.660
+3.602 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’31.932
+3.972 George Russell – 1’32.302
+4.240 Romain Grosjean – 1’32.570
+4.477 Kevin Magnussen – 1’32.807
+5.158 Nicholas Latifi – 1’33.488
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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Kribana (@krichelle)
13th November 2020, 14:13
Was there ever a time in an entire dry race weekend, that the fastest FP1 time had a delta of more than 10 seconds than the fastest qualifying time? Unless track evolves greatly, I don’t see them getting into 1:25’s.
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
13th November 2020, 14:42
That’s ‘only’ 3 seconds though. If it stays dry, they can definitely find that time IMO. The track will get faster and faster, the more cars go over this new surface. It wouldn’t surprise at all, if they would break into the 1:23s by the end of qualifying.
Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
13th November 2020, 14:23
Cooler weather, to such a degree it could be mirror Nurburgring – means, as Hannibal infamously said “this could be fun!!”
Jere (@jerejj)
13th November 2020, 16:50
@banbrorace Warmer than Nurburgring, though, and similar air temps to the 2008 and 2011 events in the first half of May.
Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
13th November 2020, 16:58
Forecast is for an temps of no more than 14C, cloudy with chance of some showers. Just as bad is that the wind is from the very cold NE, the predominant direction around this time of year.
Average
Big difference to May, where the wind direction is from the warmer West and is far more predictable stable weather-wise as they’re only a few weeks away from the summer solstice. Even then we had that light shower in 2010 and then that memorable RB crash
Patrick (@paeschli)
13th November 2020, 14:27
As much as I like watching this Disney in Ice, I’m still expecting a Mercedes to finish P1 on Sunday
Red Andy (@red-andy)
13th November 2020, 15:07
Yes, you would expect the track to rubber in and erase any ‘levelling’ effect the current conditions are having.
For me the interesting part will be qualifying. Could we see a non-Mercedes on pole for (probably) the only time this year?
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
13th November 2020, 14:38
Mercedes really seem to struggle around here. Their new updated sandbags are costing them quite a lot of laptime.
Jan
13th November 2020, 15:32
Nice :-D
Comment of the day…
Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
13th November 2020, 16:13
Despite the straights, it’s a downforce track where grip is vital – just coming out of Turn 8 fractionally wrong costs you for the rest of the lap
I think Max could win this one
BOSS
13th November 2020, 17:01
Good one
Balue (@balue)
13th November 2020, 20:29
@srga91 😀
Ipsom
13th November 2020, 16:51
Ferrari’s in season development seems to be coming together
Lums (@lums)
13th November 2020, 17:06
Only way is up when you are starting from the bottom.
Balue (@balue)
13th November 2020, 20:32
Will be interesting to see tomorrow if it’s Ferrari or just Leclerc
Homerlovesbeer (@homerlovesbeer)
13th November 2020, 23:35
Not Renaults finest day was it…hmm