Verstappen Tops Second Practice Session, Albon Impresses Again

Max Verstappen dominated Friday’s practice sessions for the British Grand Prix, setting the fastest time in Free Practice Two. He led the pack for Oracle Red Bull Racing, with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Alex Albon close behind.

Initially, Sainz set the pace on medium tyres, but Verstappen quickly took over the top position when the drivers switched to soft tyres midway through the session.

Verstappen recorded an impressive lap time of 1:28.078s, surpassing his previous benchmark from Free Practice Two by over half a second. Sainz trailed closely behind, only 0.022s adrift, while Albon and the Williams Racing continued to perform well, securing third place on the timesheets.

Sergio Pérez finished fourth, a quarter of a second behind his teammate Verstappen, while rookie driver Logan Sargeant showcased Williams’ strong start by rounding up the top five positions.

Silverstone-based Aston Martin Armaco Cognizant F1 Team secured sixth and tenth places, with Lance Stroll leading the team ahead of Fernando Alonso. Stroll faced minor issues, losing a mirror and injuring his finger with a stone, while Alonso experienced a problem with his car’s front-left side.

Nico Hülkenberg demonstrated an impressive improvement, going from the bottom of the timesheets in Free Practice to seventh in Free Practice Two. BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Pierre Gasly and McLaren F1 Team’s Oscar Piastri filled the gaps between Hülkenberg and Alonso, completing the top half of the field.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team had yet another disappointing session, with George Russell in twelfth place, just behind Zhou Guanyu. Lewis Hamilton struggled and ended up in fifteenth place after running wide and going over the kerbs at Stowe, and lacking pace throughout the session.

Esteban Ocon and Lando Norris secured thirteenth and fourteenth positions for Alpine and McLaren, respectively. Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries occupied the remaining spots ahead of Leclerc. De Vries encountered a scary moment after the session, suffering a sudden puncture on his AlphaTauri’s front-right tire.

Scuderia Ferrari mechanics gathered around Charles Leclerc’s car at the start of the session, attempting to fix an electrical issue. However, they couldn’t complete the repair in time and they will now be playing catch-up for the rest of the weekend, especially with only one hour of free practice to go at Silverstone.