Abu Dhabi – Free Practice 2: Bottas Confirms but Almost Lost Everything
At the end of a relatively calm practice session, Bottas set a new best time of the day with 1:36.256, ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Romain Grosjean, who had a good performance this Friday, made headlines for his collision with Valtteri Bottas on the inside of turn number 11.
The second practice session was initiated by Kimi Räikkönen, with an initial time of 1:39.990 that was quickly surpassed by the front-runners. For this session, hard tires were used on a track that had significantly cooled down. With the sun setting over the circuit, the temperature was 8 degrees lower than in the morning conditions.
For a long time in the lead with a lap of 1:37.145, Verstappen was joined by Bottas, who reclaimed his position with a 1:36.256 after fitting a new set of soft tires. A time that would not be beaten for the remainder of the session.
In line with the first practice session, Lewis Hamilton once again complained about the mechanics of his car. This time it wasn’t the power but difficulties with downshifting that troubled the Briton.
At Ferrari, the drivers reassured themselves by securing the 3rd and 4th positions, with Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel respectively. The team in red experienced a big scare at the beginning of the session when the Monegasque’s car number 16 hit the rails in the same corner as his teammate did this morning. This corner nearly caught out Bottas and Giovinnazi a few laps later.
💥 Charles Leclerc hits the barriers on the exit of Turn 19
He is forced to box – the Ferraris are struggling with the left-hander#AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/H3ytiQY4I2
— Formula 1 (@F1) 29 novembre 2019
If in terms of performance there is no notable fact to mention, on the track we experienced an incident worthy of Sunday races. Approaching turn number 11, with DRS open, Bottas dives inside, Grosjean, visibly not having seen the arrival of the Finn, closes the door. The result: a big impact on the sides of both cars and an investigation opened by the stewards. Despite this collision, Romain Grosjean delivered a solid performance throughout the day, finishing in seventh place in free practice 2.
Valtteri Bottas thought he had room to overtake on the inside
Romain Grosjean disagreed#AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/5Jk7vt6urk
— Formula 1 (@F1) 29 novembre 2019
