F1 Portuguese GP: Bottas fastest again as Verstappen and Stroll collide in FP2

Valtteri Bottas ended up fastest during an action-packed second practice for Formula 1’s Portuguese Grand Prix as Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll collided.

The session had only just restarted after a 15-minute disruption as Pierre Gasly pulled over to the side of the Algarve circuit with his AlphaTauri on fire when Verstappen and Stroll came together in a bizarre clash at the first corner.

With both drivers on a flying lap, Verstappen drew alongside Stroll on the pit straight and looked to dive down the inside to gain track position. Stroll held his line into Turn 1, resulting in Verstappen’s Red Bull tagging the side of Stroll and sending the Canadian’s Racing Point spearing off into the gravel.

The incident - which is being investigated by the stewards - resulted in a second red flag period which heavily compromised the team’s usual Friday afternoon long-run programmes.

The teams had already lost half an hour of meaningful running at the start of the 90-minute session, which was used to carry out a blind test for Pirelli’s 2021 prototype tyres.

Bottas had already got in a flying lap before the drama and subsequently doubled up in topping the timesheets on F1’s first competitive day of running at Portimao.

The Mercedes driver ended up half a second faster than Verstappen, while Lando Norris pumped in a late improvement to take third, ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and McLaren teammate Carlos Sainz.

Sebastian Vettel finished up sixth in the FP2 order, some 1.2s off the pace, ahead of Gasly and championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who endured a scruffy afternoon as he failed to get in a representative time on the Soft compound.

Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon completed the top-10 for Renault and Red Bull.

A truncated afternoon means a number of drivers head into qualifying day on Saturday in Portugal with little useful data to go off.

FULL SECOND PRACTICE RESULTS FOR THE 2020 F1 PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX.