#BritishGP FP2: @Max33Verstappen tops time-sheets ahead of @ScuderiaFerrari duo. #F1

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the time-sheets in FP2 at the British GP ahead of Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who were second and third respectively.

The lack of low-fuel performance running saw a mixed up order at Silverstone compared to last evening’s qualifying, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton – who finished top of the session that sets the grid for today’s qualifying sprint race in-front of Verstappen – finishing FP2 down in eighth place.

The second hour-long practice session ran in hot and sunny conditions, although compared to yesterday’s opening practice session, the drivers could not work on their setups, with their cars locked into the arrangements the teams have chosen ahead of qualifying as they are in parc ferme conditions.

Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher lead the field out when FP2 began, with the German setting the benchmark of a 1:34.017 on the C2 yellow-marked medium compounds.

Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon then jumped ahead with a 1:32.220 on the softer rubber, as the Frenchman lead for the opening 15 minutes of the session as he brought the time down to a 1:31.878.

The times were a few seconds slower than Hamilton’s best effort in Friday qualifying, which will not count as an official pole position, as the teams sent their respective drivers out on long runs to gather data ahead of the sprint qualifying race and Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez took-over at the top from Ocon posting a 1:31.382 as the first quarter of the session came to an end, just as Verstappen emerged for the first time.

The Dutchman was running the C2 yellow-branded mediums and went straight to P1 with a 1:30.428, before completing a long stint, which lasted over 15 minutes.

At the end of his run on the mediums, Verstappen produced a double of personal best efforts, which brought the quickest time down to a 1:29.902, and stood as FP2’s best time to the end.

Verstappen pitted shortly afterwards after posting his quick time on the mediums, staying in the garage for another ten minutes before returning to complete a run on the hards.

The Ferrari pairing jumped up the time-sheets with just over 20 minutes remaining, Leclerc, who at one point slipped into the run-off area at Brooklands, lead team-mate Sainz as they used the medium and soft compounds respectively at this part of the session.

Ocon was fourth and in-front of Perez, with McLaren duo Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo in sixth and seventh places respectively.

Norris had two lap times invalidated for exceeding track limits at Stowe and Copse in separate moments.

Hamilton’s best effort in FP2, on the softer rubber – was 1.229 seconds adrift of Verstappen’s session topping time, with the reigning world champion asking his Mercedes team at one stage if it was wise to continue wracking up mileage on the power-train, with the team responding it was “happy with the engine in this mode”.

The other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas finished behind his team-mate in ninth, with the Brackley-based outfit warning the Finn of damage to his left-rear deflector at the midway point of FP2.

Bottas insisted that he was not running heavily over the kerbs, with the team later suspecting it was a visor tear-off, which had become stuck in the rear of his F1 W12 EQ Performance racer and when the Mercedes driver pitted, his team inspected his car and removed the tear-off.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly completed the top ten in-front of Williams Racing’s George Russell, who ended FP2 in 11th place and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi who was 12th.

Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso finished the session 13th and ahead of Alfa’s Kimi Raikkonen in 14th, Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi in 15th and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who wound up 16th.

Aston Martin pairing Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll were 17th and 18th respectively, in-front of Haas duo Nikita Mazepin and Schumacher who brought up the rear.

You cans see the full Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2021 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1072/great-britain/practice-2.html

#BritishGP Qualifying: @LewisHamilton beats @Max33Verstappen to sprint pole. #F1

#BritishGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen quickest ahead of @LandoNorris and @LewisHamilton. #F1

#Formula1 Pirelli #BritishGP 2021 Preview – #F1