Russian GP 2019
SEPTEMBER 27, 2019
Practice 2 Report - The sandbagging question
© RV Press
By Dan Knutson
Was Mercedes sandbagging during Free Practice 2 for the Russian Grand Prix? Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were a bit off the pace of Charles Leclerc who posted the second quickest time in his Ferrari. Max Verstappen certainly wasn’t hanging back as he topped the times in his Red Bull. What was not known, of course, is what fuel loads the drivers had onboard their cars.
The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes – Hamilton and Bottas; Ferrari – Sebastian Vettel and Leclerc; Red Bull TAG Heuer – Verstappen and Alexander Albon; 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 Pierre Gasly; Williams Mercedes – George Russell and Robert Kubica.
Leclerc topped FP1 with a time of 1:34.462 using the soft compound Pirelli slicks.
Rain was forecast for Saturday, so the teams needed to accumulate plenty of dry track running data on Friday afternoon.
Norris was the first out in FP2, stopping at pit exit to do a practice start on the way.
The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 72 degrees Fahrenheit (23 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 84 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Centigrade).
Mercedes had to put different and beefed up rear wings on its cars after Bottas had a failure with the DRS system in FP1. Ricciardo also had a new rear wing after he spun into the barriers right at the end of FP1.
Leclerc was soon back on top with a time of 1:34.148 on the medium compound Pirellis. Vettel, also on the mediums, ran wide on his fast lap and ran wide. But on his second attempt he ended up 0.158 of a second adrift of his teammate.
The VSC was triggered 19 minutes into the session because some of the bollards had been knocked askew at Turn 2 by Bottas.
Bottas was third at the time, ahead of Perez, Magnussen and Grosjean. Then Hamilton moved into fourth on the mediums. Bottas was using the hard compound slicks, and both he and Hamilton were over half a second slower than Leclerc’s time on the softs.
Thirty minutes into the session Verstappen used the mediums to move into third with a time of 1:34.394. But Hamilton then went 0.001 of a second quicker than the Red Bull driver.
And so the top 10 were: Leclerc, Vettel, Hamilton, Verstappen, Bottas, Perez, Magnussen, Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Albon.
A few minutes later both Ferrari drivers went for fast laps on the softs. Leclerc posted a 1:33.497. Vettel aborted his first run, and then encountered traffic on his second run.
The Mercedes drivers had yet to go for their own fast laps halfway through FP2. Neither had Verstappen, but he now began his run on the red sidewall soft slicks. He clocked a 1:33.162 to displace Leclerc. Unfortunately for Verstappen, he would have to take a five-place grid penalty for getting a new engine.
Hamilton’s soft run yielded a 1:34.153, third but nearly a second slower than Verstappen. Bottas then tried the soft slicks which gave him a time of 1:33.938.
At the one-hour mark the order was: Verstappen, Leclerc, Bottas, Hamilton, Vettel, Gasly, Perez, Hulkenberg, Stroll and Norris.
As usual, the latter part of FP2 was devoted to high-fuel race simulation runs. The top 10, therefore, remained the same with the exception of Albon sliding into 10th at the last minute.