Max Verstappen led Valtteri Bottas by just eight thousandths of a second as Friday practice at Paul Ricard came to an end.
Bottas’ fastest time was set early in the session, on medium tyres. Team mate Lewis Hamilton set his quickest on soft tyres, although he was more than two tenths adrift of Bottas’ lap.Verstappen’s best time was set on soft tyres after several performance runs where the Red Bull pit wall asked him to continue to set additional timed laps. He only narrowly beat Bottas’ time, but Mercedes had no response in their final runs.
There were no significant incidents during the session, however, there was a brief Virtual Safety Car period while an endplate from Verstappen’s front wing was retrieved from the track. Red Bull requested the piece be returned, saying they were short of parts.
Red Bull reiterated Mercedes’ complaint that the yellow sausage kerbs at the exit of turn two were causing costly damage for a minor track limits error. Race director Michael Masi said he will review the kerb overnight.
Fernando Alonso was the quickest Alpine driver, setting the fourth-quickest time overall, the team looking even stronger than they had in the morning session. Charles Leclerc separated him from team mate Esteban Ocon, Ferrari seeming much more competitive on short runs than in first practice.
Pierre Gasly, Kimi Raikkonen and Lando Norris put AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo and McLaren into the top 10. Of their team mates, Antonio Giovinazzi was closest to joining his in the top 10, only pushed down to eleventh by Norris by nine-thousandths of a second.
Sergio Perez was well off Verstappen’s best time and finished the session 12th fastest.
Like the Mercedes pair, the Aston Martin drivers also set their quickest lap times on the medium tyre compounds. However the green cars appear less competitive at Paul Ricard – Baku podium finisher Sebastian Vettel ending the session 15th, one place ahead of Lance Stroll in the other AMR21. Behind them came the Williams pair and the two Haas drivers at the bottom of the times.
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2021 French Grand Prix second practice result
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’32.872 | 21 | |
| 2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’32.880 | 0.008 | 27 |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’33.125 | 0.253 | 23 |
| 4 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1’33.340 | 0.468 | 25 |
| 5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’33.550 | 0.678 | 23 |
| 6 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’33.685 | 0.813 | 23 |
| 7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’33.696 | 0.824 | 25 |
| 8 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’33.698 | 0.826 | 24 |
| 9 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’33.786 | 0.914 | 26 |
| 10 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’33.822 | 0.950 | 24 |
| 11 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’33.831 | 0.959 | 23 |
| 12 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda | 1’33.921 | 1.049 | 24 |
| 13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’33.955 | 1.083 | 25 |
| 14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’34.079 | 1.207 | 24 |
| 15 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’34.447 | 1.575 | 25 |
| 16 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’34.632 | 1.760 | 24 |
| 17 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’35.266 | 2.394 | 25 |
| 18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’35.331 | 2.459 | 25 |
| 19 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1’35.512 | 2.640 | 24 |
| 20 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1’35.551 | 2.679 | 23 |
Second practice visual gaps
Max Verstappen – 1’32.872
+0.008 Valtteri Bottas – 1’32.880
+0.253 Lewis Hamilton – 1’33.125
+0.468 Fernando Alonso – 1’33.340
+0.678 Charles Leclerc – 1’33.550
+0.813 Esteban Ocon – 1’33.685
+0.824 Pierre Gasly – 1’33.696
+0.826 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’33.698
+0.914 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’33.786
+0.950 Lando Norris – 1’33.822
+0.959 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’33.831
+1.049 Sergio Perez – 1’33.921
+1.083 Yuki Tsunoda – 1’33.955
+1.207 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’34.079
+1.575 Sebastian Vettel – 1’34.447
+1.760 Lance Stroll – 1’34.632
+2.394 George Russell – 1’35.266
+2.459 Nicholas Latifi – 1’35.331
+2.640 Mick Schumacher – 1’35.512
+2.679 Nikita Mazepin – 1’35.551
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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Jere (@jerejj)
18th June 2021, 15:08
FP1, Mercedes. FP2, Red Bull complained about the small physical deterrents for TL enforcement. They should just shut up about something pretty much everyone has wished for, LOL.
RandomMallard (@)
18th June 2021, 15:18
@jerejj 100% agree. They seem to have the track limit self-policing done to the best the track will allow here. I’m just waiting for Race Control to find a way to ruin it anyway.
Robbie (@robbie)
18th June 2021, 15:35
@jerejj I doubt that ‘everyone’ has wished for deterrents that break cars. I think many wish for deterrents that cost time but not body parts.
Carbonized
18th June 2021, 15:47
Time only is not effective. Walls are!
Robbie (@robbie)
18th June 2021, 15:58
Constant red flag stoppages are not effective either.
RandomMallard (@)
18th June 2021, 15:59
It seems to be effective for MotoGP’s long lap penalty
Steve (@scbriml)
18th June 2021, 15:18
Not said here, but Bottas fastest time set on mediums vs softs for Verstappen.
Kribana (@krichelle)
18th June 2021, 15:20
Maybe we will have different conditions tomorrow that can make the S tyre work because today a lot of drivers appeared to get understeer in the 3rd sector during their qualifying simulations. But, I don’t expect the S tyre to be used in the race, unless you want to do a 10 lap stint. That tyre is too fragile, especially given the amount of high lateral load corners here.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
18th June 2021, 15:58
The softs fall off before the end of the lap. Not clear at all that the soft is actually the better tyre for Q.
Mike
18th June 2021, 16:59
Bottas could not improve on his own Medium time with Softs. Ver improved quite a lot from Medium to soft.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th June 2021, 17:02
I think that’s the story of the season, red bull better on soft and mercedes on medium.
Silfen (@silfen)
18th June 2021, 21:27
Bottas drove his fastest lap in a higher power mode according to AMuS. Might be the reason that his fastest lap on softs was not as fast as on mediums.
kpcart
19th June 2021, 2:44
How on earth can they know the power settings lol
sumedh
18th June 2021, 15:18
There is no way to please everybody is there. If track limits don’t punish the driver, fans unhappy. If it punishes the driver, teams unhappy.
ian dearing
18th June 2021, 15:33
I don’t think many people want to see serious damage to the car as a deterrent. The idea surely is to slow them down?
Green Flag (@greenflag)
18th June 2021, 15:47
Damage is not a bad thing. There must be real consequences. If there was a wall or hedge at the side of the track drivers would be sure to avoid that wall or hedge. Same for the kerbs.
Carbonized
18th June 2021, 15:52
As I wrote above, Time$ is no deterrent, Wall$ is.
ian dearing
18th June 2021, 15:52
Sure to avoid it? What like they do in Baku, Singapore and Monaco?
Green Flag (@greenflag)
18th June 2021, 22:12
They hit the walls in Baku, Singapore and Monaco through bad judgment, which ought to be punished, not because they’re using extra “track” to go faster. At Paul Ricard they believe they can get away with it, and they now know they can’t.
Robbie (@robbie)
18th June 2021, 16:02
@greenflag Damage is a bad thing and there is nothing wrong with deterrents that harm lap times without causing damage. I’m sure you wouldn’t be fine if your driver got pushed wide onto a damaging kerb and that ended his day or at least his car performance. I’m sure you’d wish for something more like slippery grass there instead.
Steve (@)
18th June 2021, 16:28
If you are going to miss one Grand Prix a year, this in my view is the one to avoid. F1 cars look static when racing around large areas of tarmac. This childishly painted, game apeing shadow of the old Paul Ricard (Which was once one of the most spectacular on the calendar) does nothing for F1 other than reveal the extent to which landscapes and racing excitement has been destroyed to make the tarmac run-off areas of modern F1. I will listen on the radio…at least that way I don’t have to watch.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th June 2021, 17:03
I think there’s more that suck, like abu dhabi and russia, usually.
Steve (@)
19th June 2021, 10:08
No you are right……Sochi is beyond awful. I had managed to erase that from my mind over last year. Abu Dhabi is OK I think, I quite like the day/night thing.
Davethechicken
18th June 2021, 17:52
Seriously Monaco is the worst by far. Even the last time I attended that race (and I have been there for 3 of them) I have took to the bar near the castle after the first few laps, such was the bore. (area pass for the rocky Bank beneath the castle)
Steve (@)
19th June 2021, 10:12
But the cars look spectacular in the close context of the city. It is a real test of skill. The race is packed with stories, Senna crashing while leading, cars in the harbour, Daly cartweeling, the race that no one seemed to want to win, Senna in the Toleman catching Prost for the lead. The last few races have been uneventful I think because the drivers spend hours and hours and hours on the simulator.
David
18th June 2021, 16:34
Wouldn’t mind this as race result!
baasbas
18th June 2021, 20:26
Did someone see why Perez was so much further back this session?
erikje
18th June 2021, 20:34
They tried different engine settings on both cars, so that could be a reason.
Silfen (@silfen)
18th June 2021, 21:28
Different rear wing I read