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 |
Image via Scuderia Ferrari
Richard Bailey
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