Bottas dips into the 1:16s to go fastest in FP2 ahead of Tuscan Grand Prix

Valtteri Bottas has completed the Friday practice double by topping the timesheets in both FP1 and FP2. He managed to dip into the 1:16s and was the only driver to do so. His Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton finished in P2, and Max Verstappen rounded out the top three. The Dutchman was around 0.300 seconds behind the fastest time around Mugello on Friday afternoon. The session featured two red flags.

After Lando Norris' red flag, Bottas improved on his own fastest time by posting a 1:16.989 on the soft tyre. In the midst of a flurry of fast laps, Hamilton couldn't beat his teammate on this occasion. It seems like Red Bull Racing are back on form this weekend. They finished the session in 3rd and 4th.

Renault are leading the battle to be best of the rest. For the second time on Friday, both drivers were inside the top 10. Ricciardo was less than 0.100 seconds behind Albon, with Ocon also very close in P6.

Last weekend's Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly finished the session in eighth. On their 1000th Grand Prix weekend, Ferrari improved on their Monza results. Leclerc finished in P10 and Vettel in P12.

On the long-runs, a lot of drivers were struggling with the tyres making it seem like Sunday's race will be a two-stopper. After the checkered flag, Vettel stopped out on the track and reported on the radio that his engine had stopped.

How it happened

After 15 minutes, Haas told Romain Grosjean to come back to the pits slowly. The Frenchman reported that his battery wasn't charging. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc had a spin towards the end of a lap. He managed to keep the car rolling despite a little dip in the gravel.

Lando Norris led the way in the early part of the session, but Verstappen took control after his first fast lap. He produced a 1:18.281 to take the lead after 20 minutes.

Bottas regained his place as the leader with a 1:18.019, Hamilton pulled up half-a-second short of Verstappen's time.

McLaren opted to run Norris with a lower ride height, but he found it uncomfortable around turn 8. When he was back out on the track, the Brit touched the gravel and spun around. He hit the wall and brought out the red flag.

After the red flag, teams opted to run one more qualifying simulation on the soft tyre. Bottas posted a 1:16.989 gaining a second on his previous lap. Both Red Bull drivers stuck with the two Mercedes.

With 25 minutes remaining in the session, long-runs took centre stage. But there was one more red flag to come. Sergio Perez was coming out of the pitlane and bumped into Kimi Raikkonen who was on a long run. Both cars carried on running but there was enough debris on track for the stewards to drop the red flag.

On the long runs, Red Bull were lapping on average 1:22, but Ferrari were lapping at 1:25s on the medium tyres.