The rain stopped and finally allowed the drivers to enjoy the Silverstone circuit on Friday. And it was Ferrari who walked in the second free practice, which he drove with Carlos Sainz, with a distance of 1m 28sec on soft tyres. Mercedes, which brought important updates to its car, put Lewis Hamilton second on the course ahead of Lando Norris.
- Bottas leads first practice with only 10 riders due to rain at British Grand Prix
Championship driver Max Verstappen struggled with strong winds and was not entirely sure of the car’s stability. He finished fourth in the session that concludes the first day of activities at Silverstone.
Carlos Sainz led the second free practice for the British Grand Prix – Photo: Dan Mullan – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
With no rain, the teams were able to check how updates were performing on their car. For example, Sainz competed with flow versus — a sticky colored paint showing the direction of airflow in the single seat — on the rear wing, as did Alexander Albon on the Williams side.
Mercedes, which changed the front suspension, the hardware on the sidepods, the floor and the rear spoiler had an encouraging performance in the session. Although Hamilton reported a few bounces – an issue that also affected Fernando Alonso – the seven-time champion appeared in the third half of the course and, in the final minutes, clocked his second best time, 0sec 1 behind leader Sainz.
Despite Norris’ temporary appearance in the lead, the dispute over the best times remained centered between Leclerc and Sainz. Verstappen had his best time in second place which was soon defeated by Ferrari Spaniard. After some time in the middle of the grid, the Dutchman advanced to fourth while his RBR teammate Perez remained seventh.
British Grand Prix second free practice result – Photo: F1
It will be the third and final free practice for the British Grand Prix on Saturday at 8am. GE tracks everything in real time.
Ferrari also came to Silverstone with news. The main reason was the modification of the rear wing, with less drag. According to Sainz himself, the goal is to stand up to the speed of the rival RBR.
Lando Norris’ tire change in the latter half of training brought back bad memories for the Briton, who got stuck in a pit for 36 seconds at the Canadian Grand Prix 15 days ago. This time one of the McLaren driver’s mechanics put the left rear tire upside down on the MCL36 wheel and the lever used for the stop is still broken.
British F1 Grand Prix info and schedule – Photo: Infoesporte
