MotoGP

Alonso tops second free practice ahead of Verstappen at the São Paulo Grand Prix

Alonso tops second free practice ahead of Verstappen at the São Paulo Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso finished on top of the time charts at the 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil in the second self-ruling practice session. Max Verstappen was in second position and Valtteri Bottas was in third position at the end of the second self-ruling practice session.

The session started with the two championship rivals under investigation by the stewards and no visualization made in either case.

Lewis Hamilton’s DRS failed to comply with the regulations in post-qualifying scrutineering and the rear-wing has been impounded and the violate in regulations referred to the stewards.

This puts Hamilton’s start position in the sprint race at risk with the penalty stuff a possible pit lane start.

Verstappen is stuff investigated by the stewards for touching Hamilton’s rear-wing in parc ferme which is the violate of the FIA’s sporting regulations.

The sixty-minute long second self-ruling practice session started under sunny conditions with air temperatures at 18 degrees C and track temperatures at 47 degrees C.

Lance Stroll and Nikita Mazepin were the first drivers on the track. Kimi Räikkönen  was the first suburbanite to set a timed lap of 1m14.604s.

Verstappen and Pérez went to the top of the time charts with their first laps. Esteban Ocon went second fastest splitting the two Red Bull Racing drivers.

The two Scuderia AlphaTauri drivers, Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly were in third and fourth positions.

The Mercedes drivers went out on the track with less than forty minutes left in the session. Hamilton started with race simulations in the hot conditions in preparation for the sprint qualifying race.

This session was all well-nigh the preparation for the sprint race rather than trying to set fast laps. The drivers were moreover conserving tyres and were on used sets of tyres.

With less than twenty minutes to go, Fernando Alonso went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m11.238s, 0.864 seconds quicker than Verstappen.

A lot of drivers were making excursions off the track in the hot conditions.

The session ended with the stewards visualization hanging over the sprint race which will start in three hours and thirty minutes without the end of this session.

2021 São Paulo Grand Prix FP2 Results:

PosNoDriverNat.TeamTimeGapLaps
114Fernando AlonsoESPAlpine F1 Team1:11.23823
233Max VerstappenNEDRed Bull Racing1:12.102 0.864s26
377Valtteri BottasFINMercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team1:12.355 1.117s24
431Esteban OconFRAAlpine F1 Team1:12.407 1.169s26
544Lewis HamiltonGBRMercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team1:12.741 1.503s25
611Sergio PerezMEXRed Bull Racing1:12.903 1.665s29
799Antonio GiovinazziITAAlfa Romeo Racing ORLEN1:12.997 1.759s37
855Carlos SainzESPScuderia Ferrari1:13.078 1.840s31
916Charles LeclercMONScuderia Ferrari1:13.099 1.861s33
107Kimi RäikkönenFINAlfa Romeo Racing ORLEN1:13.355 2.117s39
1118Lance StrollCANAston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team1:13.426 2.188s41
123Daniel RicciardoAUSMcLaren F1 Team1:13.448 2.210s25
134Lando NorrisGBRMcLaren F1 Team1:13.581 2.343s23
1410Pierre GaslyFRAScuderia AlphaTauri Honda1:13.608 2.370s32
1563George RussellGBRWilliams Racing1:13.615 2.377s24
1622Yuki TsunodaJAPScuderia AlphaTauri Honda1:13.726 2.488s38
175Sebastian VettelGERAston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team1:13.747 2.509s42
186Nicholas LatifiCANWilliams Racing1:14.025 2.787s24
1947Mick SchumacherGERUralkali Haas F1 Team1:14.066 2.828s40
209Nikita MazepinRAFUralkali Haas F1 Team1:14.909 3.671s37