FP2: Verstappen sets blistering pace ahead of Leclerc and Sainz

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated the second practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix, beating the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The Anglo-Austrian squad’s Mexican driver Sergio Perez struggled for one-lap pace and ended up only 11th fastest.

The session was expected to take place in rainy conditions, hence teams brought forward lots of work to the opening session which saw drivers carry out setup work, tyre analysis and complete both qualifying simulations and race runs. However, the session started in sunny conditions. With clouds gathering over the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, drivers were in a hurry once again, but they could complete everything they planned as the rain arrived only after the chequered flag fell.

Just as in the opening practice, Max Verstappen set the pace early on in FP2, enjoying a big competitive advantage on the yellow-walled medium compound. When drivers started to focus on soft compounds, the Dutchman set a 1m14.127 which proved to be the fastest time of the day.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc executed a different programme, knowing that he would be hit by grid drop penalties for exceeding his allocation of power unit elements. The Monegasque surprisingly used two sets of soft compounds, appearing to stockpile the medium and harder compounds for the rest of the weekend. Furthermore, he used a lower mode of his turbocharger as he ran with the first unit he started the season with after losing his two other ones in Spain and Azerbaijan.

Nevertheless, Leclerc finished the session second only a tenth of a second behind Verstappen. His team mate Carlos Sainz was also in a good form, finishing the session in P3. The Spaniard’s long run pace was particularly impressive.

Red Bull’s Mexican driver Sergio Perez was on a back foot after struggling for one-lap pace. The three-time race winner finished the second practice down in P11, but he felt much more comfortable in his RB18 on the long runs.

Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso put in an impressive performance with the German finishing with his Aston Martin in P4 and the Spaniard ending up fifth fastest.

Despite introducing new parts to their cars, Mercedes had a difficult day. George Russell finished seventh fastest, but his team mate Lewis Hamilton took only 13th.

Haas continued to struggle with reliability as Valtteri Bottas was forced to spend the majority of the session in the garage, failing to set a timed lap due to technical issues. His team mate Zhou Guanyu set the 16th fastest lap.