Bottas by far the fastest
There is already news from Qatar before the 2nd training starts. Mercedes has submitted a request to the FIA after Brazil to look again at the incident in turn four in which Verstappen and Hamilton went off the track. At the time, Verstappen’s onboard images were not available. When the images did appear, Mercedes thought they had enough evidence to impose a sentence on Max. However, the request was brushed aside by the FIA just before training, so that incident will not get a tail.
Earlier today the times were not entirely representative because the sun was still baking on the track. During qualifying and the race it will be dark and therefore a lot cooler. That is now also the case. Therefore the track conditions are now also as they will be on Saturday and Sunday. This 2nd training will give a slightly better picture of Sunday. But as always: you cannot draw any conclusions from a training.
In this training, things are looking especially good for Valtteri Bottas. The Finn has a lead of more than three tenths on Verstappen. The gap to Hamilton is even slightly wider. Pierre Gasly takes P2 for the second time today. So the differences are so great that it seems that the teams are not yet showing their backs. It will remain exciting in Qatar until the last moment.
2nd free practice of the 2021 Qatar GP
01. Valtteri Bottas
02. Pierre Gasly
03. Max Verstappen
04. Lewis Hamilton
05. Lando Norris
Dates and times of the 2021 Qatar GP
Saturday 20 November 2021
3rd free practice: 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Qualification: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Sunday, November 21, 2021
Race: 3:00 p.m.