McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo still leads proceedings as most of the drivers in the afternoon session opt to make longer runs. The Australian topped the morning session with a lap time of 1.32.215. He was followed by Alonso who finished a little over a tenth behind. Red Bull's Perez rounded out the top three setting a lap time of 1.32.478 and those three still sit atop of the timing chart. The drivers who joined the session in the afternoon were Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher, Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, and Lando Norris Norris in particular has not fared as well as his teammate with the British driver struggling to find momentum and is yet to set a flying lap time. Lance Stroll on the other hand seems to have had a more productive time than his teammate Sebastian Vettel, who had a gearbox issue in the earlier session. The Canadian has completed over 25 laps so far with a best time of 1.33.624. Antonio Giovinazzi has put in an impressive shift as the Italian approaches 100 laps for the day. The Alfa Romeo driver currently sits fourth in the standing with a lap time of 1.32.486. Mercedes seem unable to overcome their mechanical gremlins with Bottas not going out on track for the first half-hour of the session, the Finn has set a lap time of 1.33.581 about a tenth slower than his teammate Lewis Hamilton. With a little more than two hours to go, the afternoon session has stayed rather silent.As the conditions cool down expect the lap times to drop during the final two hours of this afternoon. The biggest talking point from the morning session came when Hamilton beached his car forcing the session to be red-flagged, the once invincible Mercedes team really seem to be struggling in 2021, though one would expect them to sort their issues out sooner rather than later.
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