Hamilton stays ahead in Brazilian FP2

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Brazil, Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Interlagosbr

Lewis Hamilton topped the times in the second practice session of the day at Sao Paulo, Brazil. Valtteri Bottas was second fastest again, but contrary to the morning session, the competition was close, with Daniel Ricciardo at little more than 2 tenths off the pace setting Mercedes.

Still, the closest competitor without grid penalties for Sunday was Sebastian Vettel, albeit at 0.360s. Verstappen was close in 5th. The differences, even though smaller than in the morning, continued to be reasonably satisfying for Mercedes, who look set for a straightforward weekend if none of their competitors manage to considerably up their game.

Raikkonen in 6th was already 6 tenths slower than Hamilton, followed by Ocon, Massa and Hulkenberg. Fernando Alonso just made it into the top 10 and thereby just outpaced his fellow Spaniard, Carlos Sainz in the factory Renault.

The most active duo of the session were Toro Rosso drivers Gasly and Hartley. On the back of extremely little running for both in FP1, the drivers were happy to get some mileage under their belts. Perhaps more importantly, there was no sign of further technical issues on either of the Toro Rosso.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:09.515-42
277Valtteri BottasMercedes1:09.563+0.048s45
33Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:09.743+0.228s37
45Sebastian VettelFerrari1:09.875+0.360s48
533Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:09.886+0.371s38
67Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:10.117+0.602s45
731Esteban OconForce India Mercedes1:10.306+0.791s49
819Felipe MassaWilliams Mercedes1:10.373+0.858s42
927Nico HulkenbergRenault1:10.396+0.881s39
1014Fernando AlonsoMcLaren Honda1:10.655+1.140s31
1155Carlos SainzRenault1:10.685+1.170s42
1211Sergio PerezForce India Mercedes1:10.695+1.180s43
132Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren Honda1:10.902+1.387s38
1418Lance StrollWilliams Mercedes1:11.064+1.549s44
158Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:11.300+1.785s39
1610Pierre GaslyToro Rosso1:11.422+1.907s44
1728Brendon HartleyToro Rosso1:11.821+2.306s54
1894Pascal WehrleinSauber Ferrari1:11.857+2.342s43
199Marcus EricssonSauber Ferrari1:11.989+2.474s17
2050Antonio GiovinazziHaas Ferrari1:12.417+2.902s37