In terms of speed, David Croft expects Hamilton and Bottas to have the fastest car on Sunday. He bases this on data from the second free practice session.
"Mercedes with the best pace, then Red Bull about 0.15s per lap on average further back, then the same 0.15s back to Ferrari and Alpine. But the latter two do tend to run a bit lighter on a Friday."Croft does mention that the formations of
Mattia Binotto and Luca de Meo respectively drive with an empty fuel tank more often on Friday than the competition does. Fellow Anthony Davidson also saw a stronger Mercedes:
"I think Mercedes are ahead but I don't think it's quite as big a gap over Red Bull as the lap times suggest in that session."