Practice 2 Report - Tricky and hot

By Dan Knutson

Gusty winds and hot track temperatures which climbed to 131 degrees Fahrenheit (55 degrees Centigrade) made the race track slippery and tricky during Free Practice 2 for the French Grand Prix. But Valtteri Bottas mastered the conditions in his Mercedes to clock the fastest time in the session in his Mercedes. Other drivers, including his teammate Lewis Hamilton, struggled and had off-track excursions. All in all it was a chaotic session for a number of drivers.

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes - Hamilton and Bottas; Ferrari - Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc; Red Bull TAG Heuer -Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly; Renault - Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg; Haas Ferrari - Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen; McLaren Renault - Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris; Racing Point Mercedes - Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll; Alfa Romeo Ferrari - Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi; Toro Rosso Honda - Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon; Williams Mercedes - George Russell and Robert Kubica.

Hamilton was best in FP1 with a time of 1:32.738.

Kvyat was the first driver out in FP2.

“Easy on tires,” the team radioed to him. He was on the soft compound Pirellis which had problems with graining in FP1.

Kvyat would start the race from the back of the grid because of a penalty for a new power unit fitted to his Toro Rosso.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 129 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Centigrade).

Grosjean, who had missed much of FP1 because of a water leak, was another early participant in FP2. But he locked up his front tires and put a flat spot on his new set of Pirelli hard compound slicks.

The Haas team told Grosjean to pit because of the vibrations caused by the flat spot.

Meanwhile, Raikkonen had joined the action and posted a 1:34.486 in his Alfa. Norris, on the hard slicks, beat that with a 1:34.313.

Ten of the 20 drivers clocked times in the first dozen minutes.

But now others were heading out including the Ferrari duo. Leclerc, on the mediums, went ahead with his 1:33.152. Vettel, also on the medium Pirellis, beat that with a 1:32.763.

Hamilton now headed out on the mediums, 18 minutes into FP2 as did Bottas. Bottas climbed into the lead at 1:32.478 while Hamilton claimed fourth. “Front tires not balanced,” Hamilton radioed.

Leclerc improved to second place, 0.134 of a second slower than Bottas. But then Bottas improved to a 1:31.669.

Hamilton seemed to have found his balance as he clocked a 1:31.361. Bottas replied with a 1:31.110. Verstappen was third, nearly a second adrift.

At the half-hour mark the order was: Bottas, Hamilton, Verstappen, Norris, Gasly, Leclerc, Vettel, Ricciardo, Albon and Giovinazzi.

Most of the drivers were now in the pits preparing for their qualifying simulations on the soft slicks.

Grosjean was the first out on softs, but he made several mistakes on his “fast” lap.

Giovinazzi’s lap moved him from 10th to eighth.

The track got busy halfway through FP2. Bottas, on the softs, got down to 1:30.937.

Vettel slid wide on his qualifying sim. Grosjean, meanwhile, continued to struggle, and he complained bitterly over the radio.

Hamilton went off track between Turns 3 and 4 on his sim and hit a plastic cone with his left rear tire. That spoiled Verstappen’s start to his fast lap.

The stewards announced that Hamilton would be investigated for rejoining the track! Shades of Canada and Vettel/Hamilton…

Still, Hamilton remained second ahead of Leclerc, Vettel, Verstappen and Gasly.

Leclerc was 0.649 of a second slower than Bottas, so Mercedes remained well clear of Ferrari.

But Hamilton was in the pits while Bottas was now doing long runs.

"Lewis is currently out of action, so it'll be useful data what you're collecting," Mercedes told Bottas.

As usual, the teams did race sims in the last part of FP3. Hamilton did a long run on the soft tires.

On race pace, the Mercedes was still quicker than the Ferrari.

The top 10 at the end of the chaotic session were: Bottas, Hamilton, Leclerc, Vettel, Norris, Verstappen, Sainz, Gasly, Raikkonen and Magnussen.