Verstappen quickest in Russia FP2 as Mercedes struggles

Max Verstappen topped the timesheets for Red Bull in second practice for the Russian Grand Prix as Mercedes struggled for pace in Sochi.

After finishing a narrow P2 behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in FP1 at the Sochi Autodrom, Verstappen turned the tables in the afternoon session as he pipped Leclerc to top spot by three-tenths of a second.

Verstappen recorded a fastest lap time of 1m33.162s on the Soft compound tyre to take top spot, but reported he had “not a perfect last sector”, suggesting there was more time in hand.

Leclerc took second place for Ferrari ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, both of whom struggled to contend with the pace of the lead runners through FP2 despite appearing to get clear Soft tyre runs.

Bottas ended the session six-tenths of a second down on Verstappen, with Hamilton a further two-tenths adrift to leave Mercedes with work to do on Saturday to recover the gap.

Hamilton almost had a run-in with Red Bull’s Alexander Albon late in the session as they went side-by-side through Turn 3, the pair just avoiding contact.

Sebastian Vettel also had a difficult session as mistakes on his short runs left him fifth overall, one second behind Verstappen.

Pierre Gasly was the leading midfield driver for Toro Rosso in sixth ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, while Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll took eight and ninth respectively.

Albon could only finish 10th for Red Bull after damage to the floor of his car forced the team to complete some mid-session repairs, limiting track time for the Anglo-Thai driver.