(Motorsport news) With the Formula 1 action shifted to Istanbul Park, all eyes will be on Hamilton’s Mercedes and Verstappen’s Red Bull with only two points separating the drivers and seven races to go. Despite incurring a grid penalty, Lewis Hamilton has been the fastest in FP1 and FP2 practice sessions on Friday followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc 0.166s behind while Verstappen is currently languishing in fifth place.

Hamilton has looked thoroughly in control in both the practice sessions and set the fastest time and track record in FP2 on Friday with a 1:23.804 on soft tyres while Verstappen struggled to control his car on the tricky Istanbul track. However, the British racing driver faced an old and familiar foe in Ferrari as the other dominant car on the track as Charles Leclerc followed Hamilton closely behind, only a tenth off the pace. The Monegasque driver was sandwiched between the two Mercedes cars as Valtteri Bottas finished the practice session in third place followed by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in fourth and Max Verstappen in fifth.

Happy with how the practice sessions went, Hamilton said “I didn't really know what to expect today when we went out there but, jeez, there was so much more grip than we've had before. It's intense how much grip there was, which was awesome. We started with a really good set-up. I don't know how much more there is.”

Championship rival Verstappen said “We've got a bit of an evening ahead to make it a bit better because today wasn't the best of days.” Red Bull’s Team boss Christian Horner admitted “We have a balance mish-mash at the moment, we just need to understand the issue. We have a good car and it's just about getting into that performance window – l don't think we hit that today."

However, it seemed that Verstappen was not the only one struggling to control his car as long gusts of wind forced Nicholas Latifi to spin while Lando Norris was also forced wide. The 21 year old British racing driver finished behind Verstappen in sixth position and ahead of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon of Alpine while Norris’ teammate Daniel Ricciardo finished 12th. Pierre Gasly suffered from understeer throughout the practice session and finished ninth while Antonio Giovinazzi finished 10th in the Alfa Romeo. Both the Aston Martin’s of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel finished 13th and 16th respectively while the Williams and Haas cars occupied the last four spots.

Also read: Carlos Sainz Jr. to start at the back of the grid at Turkish GP due to Ferrari’s power unit upgrade