Russian GP practice two: Valtteri Bottas ahead of Lewis Hamilton

Perfect Friday for Bottas, as he leads P1 and P2; Bottas and Hamilton made mistakes on fast laps, but are still 1 second from the field; Ricciardo closest rival as Red Bull struggles, Verstappen expects midfield fight

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Sky F1’s Anthony Davidson discusses the key incidents from Friday’s P2 session at the Russian Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas overtook Lewis Hamilton in the second practice of the Russian GP when Mercedes shot out, with the Finn enjoying a perfect start to a weekend in which his teammate is chasing records.

Bottas, who has dominated Fridays in recent weeks but has not scored a victory in F1 2020 since the first race of the season, led both P1 and P2 in Sochi, and was impressively 0.2s faster than Hamilton in one session. afternoon where the Silver Arrows went head to head on soft tires.

That means Hamilton, who can match Michael Schumacher’s famous 91-win record this weekend, is on the defensive heading into qualifying day on Saturday. Although Mercedes definitely is not.

Despite both Bottas and Hamilton making mistakes on their fastest laps, Mercedes had an advantage over their closest rival, which was again Daniel Ricciardo at the Renault, of more than a second.

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Lewis Hamilton crashes during a fast lap in practice two of the Russian GP.

Fit Ricciardo led the pack of midfield chasers ahead of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris at McLaren, and Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez.

Max Verstappen, who has often been Mercedes’ only challenger in 2020, was just seventh for Red Bull after making mistakes on his two qualifying simulation laps, the second of which sent him stumbling into the final sector.

Alex Albon finishing just 12th in the other Red Bull suggests the team has a midfield fight on their hands this weekend.

“It will be difficult to qualify to be in P3,” admitted Verstappen. “Clearly, Renault looks very competitive.”

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Max Verstappen’s soft tire lap was ruined by this spin in the second practice in Sochi

Meanwhile, there were positive signs for Ferrari in the second practice, as both Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel finished in the top 10.

On the back of a miserable Spa-Monza-Mugello triple header, F1’s most successful team desperately needs a competitive weekend.

Bottas back-to-back as Red Bull fights

While Hamilton rebounded to his familiar form in P2 after finishing 19th in an interrupted morning session, it was still Bottas who had a healthy lead and it was still Bottas who seemed more comfortable in the Sochi Olympic Park.

“Mercedes could be on a different planet, but the battle between Mercedes could be great this weekend,” said Karun Chandhok of Sky F1.

But we’ve seen this before, most recently at Mugello, when Bottas fasted all previous practice sessions, while having bad luck, being beaten to pole and winning the race when it mattered most.

The Bottas-Hamilton battle is just a major talking point heading into Saturday, as Red Bull seemingly slipping to Monza’s uncompetitive levels.

Neither Verstappen nor Albon were able to report a major failure on the RB16, but admitted that “everyone is so fast.”

On a high-speed circuit, Renault, McLaren and Racing Points will enjoy their chances of taking over the scalp.

Final practice takes place at the usual time a little before 10am on Saturday, live only on Sky Sports F1, while our qualifying preparation begins at 12pm before the 1pm shootout.