» Bottas shades Vettel in China

Ferrari may have enjoyed a comfortable advantage in Friday’s opening practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix, but Mercedes is strill very much in the hunt.

Australian Grand Prix winner and current championship leader Valtteri Bottas claimed top spot on the time sheets at the end of the afternoon session, shading FP1 pace-setter Sebastian Vettel by a mere 0.027 seconds.

This was despite a spin for the Finn and his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, with the latter in particular bemoaning the unpredictable handling of his car. Hamilton finished the session fourth-fastest and a perhaps unrepresentative 0.7 seconds slower than Bottas.

It was a similar story for the sister Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who ended his session just seventh-fastest. The Monégasque driver also had his session cut short, with Ferrari mechanics opting to keep his car in the garage while precautionary cooling systems checks were carried out on his SF90.

Another driver who had his session comprimised was Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, whose STR14 underwent a precautionary engine change between FP1 and FP2. The Russian’s departure from the pits was delayed while the final installation was being completed, and he eventually managed a total of 20 laps in the session.

After suffering a front wing failure during practice in Bahrain, Romain Grosjean’s Haas suffered another similar failure in FP2 in Shanghai as the Frenchman rode the bumps going into Turn 1.

A wobble on his fastest flying lap cost Max Verstappen a few vital tenths of a second, but it still proved good enough for the Dutch youngster to claim third-fastest overall in his Red Bull Racing Honda. Verstappen’s teammate Pierre Gasly once again couldn’t match his pace, finishing almost a second slower and tenth on the timing screens.

The chasing midfield enjoyed strong gains in pace from FP1 to FP2, with Renault’s Nico Hülkenberg and the McLaren duo of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris all lapping inside the top ten and within a second of Bottas’ ultimate pace. Hülkenberg’s teammate Daniel Ricciardo ended his Friday positively and finished the day tenth-fastest.

FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN CHINESE GRAND PRIX 2019 – FREE PRACTICE SESSION 2
	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport W10	1:33.330		37
2.	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari SF90	1:33.357	+ 0.027	33
3.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing RB15	1:33.551	+ 0.221	29
4.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport W10	1:34.037	+ 0.707	32
5.	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault F1 Team RS19	1:34.096	+ 0.766	31
6.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren F1 Team MCL34	1:34.141	+ 0.811	36
7.	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari SF90	1:34.158	+ 0.828	13
8.	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team MCL34	1:34.296	+ 0.966	38
9.	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault F1 Team RS19	1:34.336	+ 1.006	32
10.	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing RB15	1:34.455	+ 1.125	32
11.	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing C38	1:34.551	+ 1.221	33
12.	Alexander Albon	Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda STR14	1:34.634	+ 1.304	37
13.	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda STR14	1:34.694	+ 1.364	20
14.	Lance Stroll	Racing Point F1 Team RP19	1:34.779	+ 1.449	37
15.	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point F1 Team RP19	1:34.784	+ 1.454	35
16.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team VF-19	1:34.788	+ 1.458	34
17.	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team VF-19	1:35.704	+ 2.374	32
18.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing C38	1:35.914	+ 2.584	40
19.	Robert Kubica	ROKiT Williams Racing FW42	1:36.121	+ 2.791	38
20.	George Russell	ROKiT Williams Racing FW42	1:36.229	+ 2.899	35