Bottas lowers Mugello record again amid two red flags

Valtteri Bottas remained on top of the times in the second practice session for the Tuscan Grand Prix.

Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free

The Mercedes driver was the only one to break the 1’17 barrier, setting a new track record of 1’16.989. Lewis Hamilton was just over two-tenths of a second behind his team mate.

Max Verstappen took the third-quickest time, only fractionally slower than Hamilton. Despite gear synchronisation problems Alexander Albon backed his team mate up in fourth. However his best time was more than seven-tenths of a second slower than Verstappen.

After a relatively sedate first practice, while teams got to grips with this new-to-F1 circuit, there were several incidents during second practice.

The first was a red flag with 52 minutes to go after Lando Norris went off at turn three, hitting the concrete wall with the front and rear of the car as he skidded across the grass The McLaren driver, who complained earlier in the session about the car bottoming out into turn eight, was unable to get the car back to the pits and took no further part in the session.

Both Ferrari drivers also had spins, reminiscent of the difficulties they encountered at Monza. Charles Leclerc’s burgundy SF-1000 got away from him early in the session at Correntaio, turn 12. Later in the 90-minute session Vettel did the same, fully rotating on track and the grass, early in one of his high-fuel runs. Both were able to continue, and while Leclerc showed some potential with 10th place, the pair again found themselves behind Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo.

A second, short red flag period was called in the last 20 minutes of the session as Raikkonen was punted into the gravel at San Donato, the hairpin at the start of the that. The culprit was Sergio Perez, who is under investigation after knocking the Alfa Romeo into a spin as he left the pits.

It was a tough session for McLaren after Norris’s early exit. Carlos Sainz Jnr struggled on the hard tyres and he ended the session only seven-thousandths of a second ahead of his team mate.

Romain Grosjean’s difficult day in Mugello continued. Having reported problems during first practice with his ERS not deploying in the first half of the lap, he said his battery was not charging during second practice and covered just five laps.

There was a final headache for Ferrari at the end of the session. Vettel reported his engine had stopped, and after attempting to attempt to roll back to the pits, eventually parked up and climbed out of his car.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2020 Tuscan Grand Prix Ferrari 1000 second practice result

Pos.	No.	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1’16.989		28
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’17.196	0.207	29
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda	1’17.235	0.246	25
4	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull-Honda	1’17.971	0.982	28
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1’18.039	1.050	32
6	31	Esteban Ocon	Renault	1’18.115	1.126	29
7	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point-Mercedes	1’18.198	1.209	34
8	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1’18.244	1.255	30
9	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’18.385	1.396	38
10	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’18.400	1.411	27
11	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-Mercedes	1’18.462	1.473	37
12	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1’18.498	1.509	39
13	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	McLaren-Renault	1’18.651	1.662	32
14	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	1’18.658	1.669	9
15	26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri-Honda	1’18.736	1.747	33
16	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1’18.843	1.854	33
17	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’18.944	1.955	35
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1’18.983	1.994	31
19	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’19.113	2.124	32
20	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1’19.257	2.268	5

Second practice visual gaps

Valtteri Bottas – 1’16.989

+0.207 Lewis Hamilton – 1’17.196

+0.246 Max Verstappen – 1’17.235

+0.982 Alexander Albon – 1’17.971

+1.050 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’18.039

+1.126 Esteban Ocon – 1’18.115

+1.209 Sergio Perez – 1’18.198

+1.255 Pierre Gasly – 1’18.244

+1.396 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’18.385

+1.411 Charles Leclerc – 1’18.400

+1.473 Lance Stroll – 1’18.462

+1.509 Sebastian Vettel – 1’18.498

+1.662 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’18.651

+1.669 Lando Norris – 1’18.658

+1.747 Daniil Kvyat – 1’18.736

+1.854 George Russell – 1’18.843

+1.955 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’18.944

+1.994 Nicholas Latifi – 1’18.983

+2.124 Kevin Magnussen – 1’19.113

+2.268 Romain Grosjean – 1’19.257

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2020 Tuscan Grand Prix Ferrari 1000

Browse all 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix Ferrari 1000 articles

23 comments on “Bottas lowers Mugello record again amid two red flags”

Kribana (@krichelle)
11th September 2020, 15:55

This is not a brake- accelerate type of circuit. This is more on Suzuka, and we all know that Hamilton has difficulties at Suzuka. Bottas looks like he has a chance this weekend. Getting the lines right is the name of the game here. No surprise this circuit is used for Moto Gp, as this track promotes cornering lines. But, let’s wait for tomorrow. The start will also be important. It’s quite a long run to turn 1, and not to mention that this track is narrow…

David BR (@david-br)
11th September 2020, 15:57
@krichelle There’s a suspicion (not just mine I don’t think) that Hamilton keeps quiet on Fridays, working out the fastest lines and breaking points but not really pushing the times so Bottas (like Rosberg before him) doesn’t have time to study them Friday night. Even more so at a new track. Like you said, let’s see.
1. Balue (@balue)
  11th September 2020, 17:39
  So why is he faster a lot of the time?
  1. David BR (@david-br)
    11th September 2020, 18:18
    @balue In qualifying? Not really this year. And Hamilton is almost invariably faster during the race, this year and last, which suggests Bottas has been setting up for one lap speed to try to secure poll. That has a cost in races. Some tracks, Bottas is undoubtedly good and it takes a flawless Hamilton lap to match or beat him. As was the case with Rosberg. But not that many. Mugello may be one where braking is less a factor, but usually Hamilton finds a particular set of turns where he can maintain speed to add extra time. And if you start adding in environmental factors (gusts, high winds, rain) that require sensitivity to constantly changing track variables, it’s a virtual certainty he’ll be ahead.
    1. Balue (@balue)
      11th September 2020, 18:30
      @david-br Qualifying and race? What are you on about? You made the point in a practice 2 thread about Hamilton not showing his speed on Fridays, and I asked you how that could be when he is faster more often than not, and now you want to talk about something else?
    2. David BR (@david-br)
      11th September 2020, 19:59
      @balue There’s a simple explanation: I took ‘he’ in your reply to mean Bottas not Hamilton. I’m not trying to ‘talk about something else,’ calm down.
Jay
11th September 2020, 16:13
Bottas does compare well in fast flowing sections but unlike Rosberg he really struggles to keep up with Lewis in heavy braking twisty zones.

Chaitanya
11th September 2020, 15:57

This is the 1st time Bottas has topped both sessions on Friday.

Patrick (@paeschli)
12th September 2020, 7:42
I believe he has the upper hand into qualifying. I just got a feeling he prepared better for this track than Hamilton.

Jere (@jerejj)
11th September 2020, 16:09

An amateurish move by Checo. He should’ve reduced speed earlier rather than leave it tight with the upcoming corner. Reminded me of the Sainz-Stroll incident in Bahrain in the 2017 race, and the Maldonado-Gutierrez one at the same part of the track three years earlier.

Qeki (@qeki)
11th September 2020, 16:11

Aaand we are back to norm. Mercs and Verstappen. But other teams are quite well mixed.

DaveW (@dmw)
11th September 2020, 16:40
.5s from 5th to 12th. Maybe we should have a special Monday race for the midfield.
1. ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
  11th September 2020, 17:41
  Or never ending train

Shaun Mathew
11th September 2020, 16:41

That time difference between Perez and Stroll though…

Balue (@balue)
11th September 2020, 17:38
What about it? It’s again the Verstappen-Albon gap that should be mentioned.
Philippe (@philippe)
11th September 2020, 17:44
Indeed. The difference between Pérez and Stroll is only 0.264.
Verstappen is 0.736 in front of Albom.
1. HAL
  11th September 2020, 18:38
  And Gasly – Kvyat is 0.5… But that’s because hte Alpha Tauri is easy to drive. Oh, wait… Having said that this is only FP, let’s wait for Quali…
Esploratore (@esploratore)
11th September 2020, 21:33
Really, taking into account stroll’s father is the team owner, replacing perez instead of stroll is reasonable, he’s not significantly stronger than him by now, what’s not reasonable is taking vettel, I’d understand if he took a serious driver like hamilton, verstappen, leclerc or ricciardo.