Valtteri Bottas put Mercedes on top as Pierre Gasly impressed under the lights in Practice 2 at the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Finn was dialled in at the Losail circuit, regrouping after his first lap time on soft tyres was deleted for track limits to set a benchmark of 1m23.148s on the second attempt.
Bottas though was only two-tenths faster than Gasly in P2 for AlphaTauri, as the Frenchman, at least on a single lap, appeared to be in the same groove.
well that was a nice lap! ? @PierreGASLY returns to the garage after going P2 on the softs ? pic.twitter.com/0pMBxxnLT3
— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) November 19, 2021
By contrast, the two championship contenders appeared to be struggling to extract the maximum from their cars with Max Verstappen claiming third just ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Traffic also played a role, particularly in the middle sector as drivers found themselves coming up against slow-moving cars.
The technical yet higher speed layout though does seem to be benefitting some teams more than others such as McLaren, who had Lando Norris in fifth, and Aston Martin with Lance Stroll sixth and Sebastian Vettel ninth.
Yuki Tsunoda also backed up Gasly’s pace in seventh ahead of Sergio Perez in eighth.
Last two minutes into #FP2.
Both drivers are on track on soft tyres ?#FP2 #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/M9YGEQ76i8
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) November 19, 2021
Despite a strong daytime session, Ferrari slipped back after the sunset with Carlos Sainz 10th and Charles Leclerc, who had a trip through the gravel late on, in 13th.
The two Alpines sat just outside the top 10 in 11th and 12th, while Daniel Ricciardo was only 14th.
A loss of bodywork over the kerbs cost Antonio Giovinazzi as he slipped to 17th between the two Williams’.
Mick Schumacher was 19th while Nikita Mazepin didn’t run at all due to a chassis change.
Full results from Practice 2 can be seen below:
