Max Verstappen set the pace as lap times improved significantly in Practice 2 at the Turkish Grand Prix.
Though grip was still hard to find at Istanbul Park, confidence was slowly building with the Dutchman posting a 1m28.330s to finish almost seven seconds faster than his morning best.
Key to the jump in speed was the switch to the soft tyres which, despite some problems initial with graining, emerged as a solid compound both over a short and long run, unlike in Portimao a few weeks ago.
Charles Leclerc was among those enjoying the tricky conditions in second for Ferrari, while the two Mercedes’ were still finding their feet somewhat in third and fourth.
Alex Albon was really the first to start picking up the pace but, as the others improved, would drop to fifth in the final standings, a second slower than Verstappen.
AlphaTauri also appeared comfortable with Daniil Kvyat sixth and Pierre Gasly seventh. On the contrary, Sebastian Vettel was 1.2s slower than Leclerc but was still quick enough for P8 in the second Ferrari.
The usual midfield frontrunners, Renault, Racing Point and McLaren, were all a little lower than usual with Lance Stroll the highest place in ninth and birthday boy Lando Norris completing the top 10.
Down the field, Antonio Giovinazzi was a decent 13th for Alfa Romeo, ahead of Carlos Sainz, who recovered from his morning electrical issues, in 14th and Imola podium sitter Daniel Ricciardo in 15th.
Kimi Raikkonen was 16th as the two Williams’ and the two Haas’ rounded out the standings.
As drivers struggled to find the limits of their cars, the usual field spread of roughly two seconds jumped to five seconds from P1 to P20.
And the unusual conditions look set to produce an unpredictable weekend, with anything possible as the speeds continue to increase.
Full results from Practice 2 can be seen below:
