Valtteri Bottas continued to lead a Mercedes one-two in second practice for the Russian Grand Prix after going four hundredths faster than his teammate Lewis Hamilton. The Finn set a 33.593 on the soft tyre which put him ahead of Hamilton, at a circuit where he has often gone very well in the past.
Mercedes go into this race looking for their first victory since Silverstone, as they remain locked in a title battle with Red Bull. Bottas set his best time just before the half way point in the session after trading lap times, Hamilton meanwhile had a problem in the pits when he overshot his pit box.
Pierre Gasly put his Alpha Tauri third fastest after going over a quarter of a second faster than the McLaren of Lando Norris. The Frenchman again looking competitive in the midfield and his nearest challenger in the race Esteban Ocon was fifth, the Alpine driver two and a half tenths behind.
Hamilton’s championship rival Max Verstappen was fifth, the Red Bull driver a second off the pace. But, the Dutchman’s focus was on race runs, having decided to introduce a new power unit into his pool, thus incurring a back of the grid penalty. The decision follows the crash with Hamilton at Monza.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was seventh fastest going eight-hundredths faster than the Alpine of Fernando Alonso. Sebastian Vettel put his Aston Martin eighth fastest, a second and two tenths off the outright pace.
Charles Leclerc was tenth despite avoiding the wall at Turn Eight, the Ferrari driver putting his right wheels on the AstroTurf sending him into a spin. But he was able to avoid contact with the wall, but Sergio Perez needed to take avoiding action. The Red Bull driver finished the session a tenth behind.
Kimi Raikkonen was twelfth fastest going a second and a quarter ahead of teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, in fourteenth. The Italian did bring out the red flag during the long runs, when he had a similar incident to Leclerc.
Giovinazzi spun off, in the same way, destroying the rear of the car, and was ordered to stop by Alfa as he was “losing parts” and, with the barriers he had hit also needing to be rearranged, the session was therefore stopped.
Lance Stroll was fifteenth for Aston Martin, half a second behind teammate Vettel, and a second and seven-tenths of the outright pace. Stroll was six hundredths faster than his fellow Canadian Nicolas Latifi, with the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo seventeenth.
The Australian made a late start to the session, meaning he did the fewest laps of any driver leaving him three tenths ahead of Yuki Tsunoda. Nikita Mazepin was nineteenth going just over a tenth ahead of his teammate Mick Schumacher.
Uncertainty remains going into qualifying with the forecast for heavy rain on Saturday in Sochi, but there appears to be a window to slot the session in. If it can’t take place at all the grid for Sunday would be set by the final order in second practice.
Mercedes, therefore, are in the perfect position, although they were challenged closely in second by Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri
