Photo: Scuderia Ferrari
Hamilton wins second Free Practice with Leclerc behind
With ideal conditions of 23 degrees Celsius the FP2 was calm with no crashes. There was a Virtual Safety Car as Lando Norris’ McLaren had technical problems. At the end Sergio Perez caused a Red Flag as the breaks on his Cadillac caught on fire. The session ended with Verstappen and both Mercedes behind Ferraris.
Isack Hadjar didn’t participate in this session since the beginning because of his crash in FP1. The first fast time of 1:22:176 seconds was set by George Russell in Mercedes but both Audis quickly beat that time followed by many other cars.
All cars were on medium tires except for Aston Martins which were on soft ones. With ten minutes into the session Max Verstappen in Red Bull set fastest time of 1:14:008 seconds.
After 13 minutes Hadjar joined the rest of the grid and went on the track. By this time there was a Yellow Flag followed by Virtual Safety Car as Lando Norris stopped his McLaren on the track due to unspecified technical issues. After four minutes the VSC ended and many cars which went into the boxes got back on the track.
20 minutes into the session Hamilton, who was leading the standings, complained on the radio that his seat was clicking. Meanwhile Carlos Sainz in Williams reported to the radio problems with pedals.
In the middle of FP2 Max Verstappen set new fastest time of 1:13:467 seconds on soft tires followed by Russell with 0. 048 seconds gap also on soft tires. Both Ferraris on medium tires were third and fourth.
With 24 minutes remaining Kimi Antonelli complained on the radio that his car is unpredictable in Sector 2 and Hamilton topped the standings with time 1:13:026 seconds. Franco Colapinto in Alpine touched the wall but he was able to get back into the boxes with small damages.
With 15 minutes until the end all cars were on soft tires. Ferraris, Racing Bulls and Aston Martins were in the boxes but with eight minutes remaining they got back on the track.
As was the session almost over there was a Red Flag because the breaks on Sergio Perez’s Cadillac caught on fire. As soon as the track was cleared the cars got back to drive last fast laps.
FP2 results:
1st – Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
2nd – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – +0.111
3rd – Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – +0.168
4th – George Russell (Mercedes) – +0.379
5th – Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – +0.503
6th – Isack Hadjar (Red Bull Racing) – +1.061
7th – Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – +1.062
8th – Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) – +1.068
9th – Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) – +1.333
10th – Oliver Bearman (Haas F1 Team) – +1.430
11th – Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – +1.471
12th – Carlos Sainz (Williams) – +1.486
13th – Alexander Albon (Williams) – +1.574
14th – Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) – +1.722
15th – Franco Colapinto (Alpine) – +1.732
16th – Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) – +1.759
17th – Esteban Ocon (Haas F1 Team) – +1.819
18th – Sergio Perez (Cadillac) – +2.090
19th – Lando Norris (McLaren) – +2.248
20th – Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – +2.268
21st – Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) – +2.733
22nd – Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – +3.148
