#CanadianGP FP2: @LewisHamilton leads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two. #F1

Hamilton Canadian GP FP2 – Sir Lewis Hamilton lead from team-mate George Russell in a Mercedes one-two before the rain soaked the final five minutes of running in an extended FP2 session at the Canadian GP as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz completed the top three.

 

 

Hamilton posted the session-topping benchmark of 1:13.718 on the C5 red side-walled softer compounds, pipping fellow British-compatriot and team-mate Russell by 0.027 seconds with Sainz a further 0.126 adrift in third.

 

The second session was extended by half-an-hour following earlier practice’s curtailment as technical problems emerged with the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve’s CCTV system.

 

This left the teams, who only managed a small number of tours, with much data gathering to do ahead of Saturday’s preparations for Qualifying.

 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, registered the first lap-time straight out of the box, setting a 1:16.654 on the C4 yellow-branded mediums, but the Monegasque driver was then demoted as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas put their initial efforts on the time-sheets.

 

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen then set a 1:15.333 despite complaining over the radio about his RB19’s downshifts, setting a 1:14.726.

 

Leclerc then reclaimed P1 with a 1:14.576, before gaining another two-tenths out of his time. His Ferrari team-mate Sainz found even more time posting a 1:14.196, as the Ferrari pairing found pace on their soft tyre stints.

 

Another tenth found by Leclerc send the Ferrari driver to the top of the classification, where he remained after the opening half-an-hour of proceedings; the times were still as Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg travelled slowly on the main-straight with a smoking VF-23.

 

The German came to a halt ahead of turn one to bring out a red flag, creating a ten-minute delay until the session continued with 50 minutes remaining.

 

Sainz picked up from where he left off and set a 1:13.844 to take back P1, as the Ferrari duo had been split moments before the opening red flag by Verstappen as the Red Bull driver passed the slowly-moving Hulkenberg.

 

With rainclouds looming around and teams eager to collect more data, the session was once again stopped as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon came to a halt at turn nine having been ordered to stop his A523 racer due to a water-leak issue.

 

Having helped the marshals wheel away his A523, Ocon ensured the session could continue – although it had denied Leclerc a chance of bettering his team-mate having set a purple sector one effort.

 

With the threat of rain close, many of the teams opted to do their race data gathering long runs with the 40 minutes left on the clock; although Alonso set a best sector one time on a lap with the softs, the Spaniard could not carry that through the final sector and placed his AMR23 in fifth.

 

When the session reached it’s final half-an-hour, radio messages began to emerge that rain was ten-minutes away, Russell then fired his F1 W14 racer to the top of the order, posting a 1:13.745, where he remained for a few moments before team-mate Hamilton eclipsed his fellow British-compatriot with the session’s best time of a 1:13.718.

 

The rain did not arrive as expected so the teams continued their long race runs on the dry track, but there were no other real challenges to the top of the classifications.

 

The wind then picked up, whipping up a cloud of pollen in sector one, gusts and falling track temperatures giving a sign that the rain was near, saw drivers beginning to make more mistakes, as Sainz and Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon both had off-track excursions with 15 minutes remaining.

 

Due to the slippery conditions at turn four, many of the drivers put on a set of intermediates as the track was declared wet by race control – despite the lack of rainfall.

 

With five minutes remaining, a big downpour of rain hit the hairpin – although the southern part of the circuit stayed dry to create a split in conditions.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris was the first driver to continue exploring the circuit on intermediates after everyone pitted, but eventually conceded defeat and returned to the garage. Aston Martin’s Alonso and Lance Stroll both opted for exploratory tours on inters, followed by several other curious teams looking to brave the wet.

 

The track became significantly wetter, rendering the intermediate rubber barely able to deal with the standing water as Stroll and Sainz suffered off-track excursions at turn eight.

 

Thus, Hamilton’s effort stood as the session’s best over team-mate Russell with Sainz rounding out the top three.

 

Alonso split the Ferrari duo in fourth as Leclerc completed the top five.

 

Championship-leader Verstappen was sixth, a tenth-clear of seventh-placed Bottas, as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and home-favourite Stroll were eighth and ninth respectively.

 

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly completed the top ten.

 

Gasly and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri both endured moments with the wall, the latter scraping the famous “Wall of Champions”.

 

McLaren pairing Piastri and Norris finished Free Practice 2 in 11th and 13th respectively as Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen sandwiched in-between the MCL60 entries.

 

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu ended the day in 14th and in-front of AlphaTauri duo Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries who placed in 15th and 16th.

 

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant were 17th and 18th respectively as Alpine’s Ocon split the pairing in 19th.

 

The aforementioned Hulkenberg brought up the rear.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix Du Canada 2023 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1212/canada/practice-2.html

 

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