Styria, FP2: Verstappen tops FP2 as Ricciardo crashes out

Max Verstappen edged Valtteri Bottas to the quickest time of the second practice session ahead of Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix with the Red Bull driver beating the winner of last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix by just over four hundredths of a second. There was trouble though for Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, who crashed out early in the session.

The Australian brought out the red flags just 13 minutes into the session when he crashed heavily in Turn 9. Ricciardo lost the rear-end of his Renault as he turned in and the back end of his car immediately snapped out to sending him spinning backwards through the gravel trap and into the barriers.

The session was halted for 15 minutes while his car was recovered and as the mid-point of the session approached teams began to switch to soft tyres for qualifying simulations.

Racing Point drivers Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll initially led the way before Bottas jumped to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:03.703. Verstappen though was in irresistible form and he eventually took spot with a lap 0.043 seconds quicker than the Finn with Perez and Stroll in third and fourth places respectively.

It was a less successful day for Bottas’ team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The Briton looked uncomfortable during his qualifying simulations and he finished the session in sixth place behind McLaren’s Carlos Sainz.

Alex Albon ended the session in seventh place for Red Bull, though he had two spins during the session, at Turn 3 and Turn 8, while Lando Norris took eighth in the sister McLaren ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in ninth. Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10 for Renault.