» Ferraris fastest in close FP2 session

Scuderia Ferrari finished Friday’s second practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos 1-2 on the timesheets as Sebastian Vettel narrowly outpaced teammate Charles Leclerc.

The duo was separated by just 0.021 seconds as the red cars proved rapid during their qualifying-style runs.

It was a closely-fought battle for honours at the top of the timesheets, with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen going third-fastest, just 0.134 seconds slower than Vettel’s ultimate time of 1:09.217.

Mercedes-AMG’s Valtteri Bottas was fourth-fastest, only two-hundredths of a second slower than Vettel. The Finn, however, had two near-miss moments with Vettel and teammate Lewis Hamilton respectively after obstructing both drivers while they were on a hot lap.

Hamilton would finish his session fifth-fastest, with less than a quarter of a second covering the top-five runners.

After rain lashed the São Paulo circuit in FP1, conditions were much better for the afternoon’s session although there was still some standing water trapped in the kerbing which was kicked into the air. A rain shower briefly fell midway through the session, however it was not enough to disrupt proceedings.

Having sat on the sidelines in FP1 while the Williams team gave reserve driver Nicholas Latifi a run, Robert Kubica was one of the first drivers out on track and almost immediately off it. A sudden snap of oversteer, later attributed to spray from Kevin Magnussen’s Haas ahead on the road, threw Kubica off the circuit and into the barriers.

FP2 was also brought to a premature end for both Toro Rossos, which suffered apparent high-mileage engine-related failures. Pierre Gasly was forced to stop his car with twenty minutes on the clock, while teammate Daniil Kvyat had an engine cut-out in the session’s final five minutes and slid gently into the barriers at Turn 12. That brought the session to an early end.

Kevin Magnussen was a somewhat surprising sixth-fastest in his Haas Ferrari, with the Dane benefiting from the comparatively cooler track conditions.

Behind him was Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen, with the pair separated by just six-hundredths of a second.

FP1 pace-setter Alexander Albon was back on the track after his crash earlier in the day, however the Anglo-Thai driver was an unrepresentative ninth-fastest after a lock-up during his qualifying-style run. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. completed the top ten.

FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN GRANDE PRÊMIO DO BRASIL 2019 – FREE PRACTICE SESSION 2
	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari SF90	1:09.217		30
2.	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari SF90	1:09.238	+ 0.021	35
3.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing RB15	1:09.351	+ 0.134	33
4.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport W10	1:09.373	+ 0.156	37
5.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Motorsport W10	1:09.440	+ 0.223	39
6.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team VF-19	1:10.143	+ 0.926	38
7.	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault F1 Team RS19	1:10.194	+ 0.977	32
8.	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing C38	1:10.210	+ 0.993	39
9.	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing RB15	1:10.275	+ 1.058	31
10.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren F1 Team MCL34	1:10.310	+ 1.093	38
11.	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault F1 Team RS19	1:10.325	+ 1.108	31
12.	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda STR14	1:10.352	+ 1.135	26
13.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing C38	1:10.419	+ 1.202	36
14.	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda STR14	1:10.424	+ 1.207	34
15.	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point F1 Team RP19	1:10.443	+ 1.226	31
16.	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team VF-19	1:10.504	+ 1.287	38
17.	Lance Stroll	Racing Point F1 Team RP19	1:10.568	+ 1.351	33
18.	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team MCL34	1:10.700	+ 1.483	41
19.	George Russell	ROKiT Williams Racing FW42	1:11.818	+ 2.601	36
20.	Robert Kubica	ROKiT Williams Racing FW42	no time		2