First practice for this weekend's French Grand Prix saw the drivers finding – and often going over – the limit, with spins aplenty at the Circuit Paul Ricard on Friday morning, while FP2 was a far more straighforward affair.
Max Verstappen ran wide over the tricky Turn 2 kerbs and damaged his front wing – with Race Control activating a Virtual Safety Car period to allow the debris to be recovered – but other than that it was largely smooth running in the French sunshine, as Verstappen shrugged off that mistake to go quickest of all.
FP2 REPORT: Verstappen tops second practice at Paul Ricard, just 0.008s quicker than Bottas
The Dutchman may have topped the time sheets for Red Bull, but it was Valtteri Bottas who might be ending the day happiest after he was fastest in FP1, and then second quickest in FP2 – despite running the medium tyres, with Verstappen on softs.
Behind Bottas was Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton, then Fernando Alonso – an excellent fourth fastest for home team Alpine – and Charles Leclerc for Ferrari.
Hit play on the video above to see all the key bits of action from second practice, before the fight for pole position gets under way on Saturday.
Next Up
Related Articles
Verstappen wins Qatar GP as title battle goes to Abu Dhabi
Watch the Qatar GP race start as Norris loses out to Verstappen
Leclerc left with ‘no words’ on ‘incredibly tough’ Qatar GP
Ferrari 'did a worse job than the others' in Qatar – Vasseur
Piastri ‘speechless’ after ‘gut-wrenching’ Qatar GP
FIA post-race press conference – Qatar