FP2 report | Leclerc tops session as Verstappen, Bottas crash
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Charles Leclerc has topped an incident-filled FP2 session. Two of the top six drivers brought out the red flags in two separate crashes. First, Max Verstappen flew into the wall, and then almost as soon as the green flag dropped, Valtteri Bottas lost control and hit the wall hard. And then Sebastian Vettel brought out the yellow flags with a high-speed spin.
Leclerc has topped the session with a time of 1:05.086. The man from Monaco led most of the session after his qualifying run was one of the few to be completed around the Red Bull Ring.
Pierre Gasly finished the session in third place as he flew the flag for the Honda engine and Red Bull following Verstappen's crash. Lewis Hamilton completed the top four, with his Mercedes teammate clinching P2 before his accident.
Both Haas and McLaren had a good session, fighting each other for the best of the rest positions. Early in the session, McLaren led the way before the big teams came out of the garage. Kimi Raikkonen also had a positive session in his Alfa Romeo car. Meanwhile, Renault struggled to find the same speed as they did last weekend in France.
How it happened
The session started slowly, with hardly any action from the big three teams during the opening 15 minutes. McLaren led the way with a 1-2 until Leclerc posted a 1:05.558.
Both Mercedes cars ran wide on the final corner of their first hot lap. No wings were broken on this occasion.
Nico Hulkenberg had an issue with his DRS. When the back wing was opening, the flap was bouncing around. Renault brought the car in and managed to fix the problem almost immediately.
But that was only the start of the problems in the session. Verstappen kicked off the three back-to-back-to-back incidents which disturbed the qualifying simulation runs throughout the field.
With the constant distribution in the second half of the session, it was hard for the drivers to find some consistency in temperatures. The longer runs filled the final 20 minutes. In the final minute, Leclerc reported problems with the Ferrari engine.