Verstappen Paces Second Practice as Hamilton Suffers with Track Limits

Max Verstappen kept Red Bull Racing at the top of the time sheets in the second practice for the Styrian Grand Prix on Friday, but the chasing pack this time was led by McLaren F1 Team’s Daniel Ricciardo!

After topping first practice earlier in the day, Verstappen was again the man to beat at the Red Bull Ring, with the current championship leader set a benchmark time of 1:05.412.

Lewis Hamilton had appeared to have beaten the time, but his 1:05.335 was struck from the record books as the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver was adjudged to have exceeded track limits.  His best legal time of 1:05.796 was good enough only for fourth.

Ricciardo’s best time of 1:05.748 therefore was good enough for him to end the day an encouraging second fastest to his former team-mate Verstappen, while Esteban Ocon was an impressive third for the Alpine F1 Team, with his team-mate Fernando Alonso fifth.

Sebastian Vettel continued his good recent form with the sixth best time for the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team, just ahead of the second McLaren of Lando Norris and the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.  The top ten was rounded out by Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez and Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN’s Antonio Giovinazzi.

The leading Scuderia Ferrari entry this time was Carlos Sainz Jr., but the Spaniard and his team-mate Charles Leclerc – who ended thirteenth – will be scratching their heads as to where their pace has gone this weekend in Austria.  Sainz also suffered his second spin of the weekend, this time at turn five.

Valtteri Bottas will have ended the session with a red face after spinning in the pit lane as he exited his pit box.  The second Mercedes driver ended up facing the wrong way outside the McLaren pit box after appearing to lose control as he accelerated away from his own pit.

The stewards in Austria announced an investigation will take place after the session, with the incident possible viewed as dangerous driving.

After missing first practice as Robert Kubica took his place, Kimi Räikkönen returned to his Alfa Romeo seat and set the fourteenth best time, just ahead of the leading Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda of Yuki Tsunoda.  Tsunoda’s team-mate Pierre Gasly, who was second fastest in the morning session, did not take part in the session as Honda identified an issue with his power unit that required it to be closely investigated and analysed.

George Russell was again the best of the Williams Racing entries in sixteenth, with team-mate Nicholas Latifi slowest of all the drivers that set a time in nineteenth.  In between them came the two Uralkali Haas F1 Team drivers, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.  Both Latifi and Mazepin spun, the former at turn six and the latter at turn four, but both were able to resume running.

As proven by Hamilton’s best time being deleted, track limits continued to be an issue, with more times being lost as a result of drivers’ exceeding the limits of the track during the session.

Red Bull Ring Free Practice 2 Result