00:00 And it's a green light then for FP2. Welcome along to our viewers on Sky Sports Main Event.
00:05 You've joined us just in time as the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas makes its way out onto the track.
00:12 They were Alfa Romeo last year, they're Sauber this year.
00:15 And they've Hamilton on an absolute flyer though in a Mercedes,
00:18 where the initial talk coming out of Mercedes is that they are very happy with the balance and the pace of their car.
00:25 They're not saying they're going to be faster than Red Bull, but they're very happy with what they've made,
00:31 what they've found and what they have fine-tuned.
00:33 And look at that, Lewis Hamilton, eight and a bit tenths of a second faster than Charles Leclerc on that run.
00:39 - Now, people on this end... - Peter Eger-Fritzman under investigation.
00:42 - He didn't go out into the fast lane, then went into the slow lane.
00:48 - Has he crossed the red light? - Oh, has he? Yes, he has.
00:51 - He's crossed the line.
00:53 - A similar thing, but because he got onto the kerb, coming out of the final couple of corners.
00:57 Let's see what it felt like and looked like for Charles Leclerc.
01:01 - Oh, he's there. He's taking the last corner.
01:03 - Copy, we've seen that.
01:05 - Check maybe the flow of the car just to make sure.
01:09 It's all good by going wide in the last corner.
01:12 - OK, we'll check that.
01:13 - But turn everything up and you get a lap far out doing what Hamilton was able to do
01:21 during the whole course of three days of testing last week.
01:24 - No, it is... Ted, sorry, it is the light. It is...
01:27 No, it's still on fire.
01:29 - It looks like something's on fire.
01:30 - Yeah, it's a flame. - It almost looks like there's a flame torch underneath the car
01:35 because something's got too hot.
01:36 - Well, no, it's a skid... It's from the sparks that have run...
01:40 You know, from running down the straight.
01:42 - A lingering spark. - A lingering spark that has turned into a little candle flame.
01:46 - Oh, that's romantic. - It's very romantic.
01:48 - ...out. And to get that most close on the lap like that, that's very good for him.
01:53 - Understood.
01:54 - And I don't see that being a minus point at all.
02:00 If it's to help that, which I think it should.
02:03 - OK.
02:04 - So, just send him a text and remind him, if you don't mind, Karun.
02:11 Carlos Sainz, nearly two tenths down, going through the first sector.
02:14 And it's a conversation we've had on a few evenings on the road
02:18 as to which one of those drivers gets their first Grand Prix win.
02:22 - Off the kerb on the top. - Understood.
02:25 - Talking of people who haven't been too bad behind the wheel over the years,
02:32 Sir Lewis Hamilton, who is currently fastest and going quicker.
02:35 - Yeah, three and a bit tenths up so far on the slam.
02:39 He's got a nice clear run for the final corner, sights the braking point well,
02:43 gets the nose of the car in the rear, a little bit squirmy as he put the power down,
02:47 but still got good drive and traction, carries him up to the line.
02:51 The fastest of anyone across the lap and two of the sectors as well.
02:56 I can only assume, we'll have to wait till we see some GPS data maybe later on, that...
03:02 - In the middle of the way, John, so they don't look in the mirrors.
03:05 - Yeah, copy. I've seen that.
03:11 - There is the Williams, and as they try to rotate the...
03:16 Yeah, yeah, okay. Well, I tell you what we'll do, we'll wait.
03:19 I'm going to go back to you, Crofton.
03:20 We'll wait till somebody's coming through here with a bit of determination.
03:24 - Well, that'd be nice. Sorry, Martin, that there's not that many cars on the track.
03:29 There was one less a few moments ago as Logan Sargent, this man, rather cut the corner right there.
03:35 And they might want to give the floor a little once-over on that.
03:39 - So I gave Martin a bit of a hospital pass, and probably not for the last time this year, Karun,
03:43 talking about engine power, but we've been looking at the straight-line speeds between Hamilton and Verstappen,
03:48 and they're pretty similar.
03:50 - Yeah, on that particular run, anyway, it did seem pretty similar. We've seen the clear on the radio.
03:56 - Yeah, it's a really tricky one because you sort of go through that first bit,
04:00 and you think, "Okay, I've got it, I've got it sorted, I've got my trajectory."
04:03 But actually, it is kind of a different...
04:06 Like, it is a... There's a pinch point. The kerb comes back in and just tightens up the line on the way out.
04:12 So it's a very difficult final corner, actually, because it's tempting.
04:18 It's tempting to go in, charge it through, but there's a little kicker at the end, a little nasty...
04:24 Well, not really a surprise, but it's just a little kick that you get at the end.
04:28 - It certainly is.
04:30 And there we can see almost the whites of his eyes.
04:36 - Two vastly experienced drivers, of course, Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen,
04:41 as Hamilton completes what could be his penultimate lap of this stint.
04:46 And it's a stint that has produced 12 laps so far.
04:50 Gets to the line before the chequered flag. It was a 1.37.4.
04:54 So maybe it was a couple of cool-down laps and then pressing on again,
04:59 because he had edged into the 1.39s for a while.
05:03 - Yeah, I think Abu Dhabi, the last place, was a great case in point, wasn't he?
05:08 Out-qualified Lando. Lando made a mistake in qualifying at Turn 14.
05:12 Oscar qualified third, ahead of him, but in the race, Lando overtook him
05:17 and then just edged away as the race unfolded.
05:20 I think it was sort of a known and acknowledged Achilles heel for Oscar that needed to be dealt with.
05:32 - The upshifts in the start are just so bad.
05:36 - Coming up.
05:38 - Right, here we are. FP2, then, and that is Lewis Hamilton, fastest,
05:45 after 60 minutes of further practice here today and for the first time under the lights for this practice session.
05:50 Mercedes 1.2. George Russell, two tenths off his teammate.
05:54 Aston Martin, Ferrari, McLaren, completing the top five.
05:58 Verstappen, the top six. Hülkenberg, the top seven.
06:02 So six different manufacturers in the top seven in the timings.
06:08 Lando Norris didn't get a representative lap in and the power unit wasn't turned up to full blast,
06:15 but he was right down at the bottom, along with Joe Guagnou,
06:19 the two Alpines of Gasly and Ocon, and the other Sauber of Valtteri Bottas.
06:25 (upbeat music)
06:28 (upbeat music)
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