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Bottas fastest in an FP2 session full of drama with two red flags

23 October 2020 at 15:58
Last update 23 October 2020 at 16:40
  • Louis Shaw
  • Editor

Valtteri Bottas continued his impressive form in practice by topping the timesheet with a 1.17.940 in an FP2 session that was full of drama and controversy. The red flag was brought out twice, firstly for Pierre Gasly after his Alpha Tauri caught fire and secondly when Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll collided at turn 1. 

The collision 

In the final stages of FP2, Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll collided at turn 1 bringing out the red flag for the second time. The two had been going wheel to wheel in the previous lap and the action continued into the start of another lap. Verstappen went up the inside and Stroll came across meaning that the two drivers hit each other. Here's the video. We'll let you make your own mind up! 

The fire 

The red flag was brought out first after Pierre Gasly's Alpha Tauri caught fire. Some Honda-powered cars had been seen with smoke coming out of them in FP1 and there will perhaps be some cause for concern for Red Bull and their sister team. 

The session 

Contrary to FP1, all of the cars immediately went on the track because the first half-hour of the session was used by Pirelli to test prototype tyres for 2021. All cars were therefore required to drive for those first 30 minutes. The times driven during this period are therefore not particularly representative for the rest of the weekend.

The tyre that Pirelli chose to test was of a hard compound. On a track that didn't offer much grip anyway, many drivers struggled to keep their car on the circuit. Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean all lost control once and many other drivers were caught spinning. 

Hamilton complained about vibrations with Max Verstappen topping that half-hour was the fastest with a time of 1:21.5.

After the two red flags, there wasn't much time for the drivers to get their laps in. Bottas had set a blistering lap early on in the session but it was Lando Norris who impressed on the final lap, putting in a lap that saw him finish P3.