F1 British GP: Carlos Sainz goes fastest in dry FP2
1st July 2022Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz went fastest in a dry Free Practice 2, ahead of the British Grand Prix, as Sir Lewis Hamilton climbed up to second, 0.163 seconds off the pace.
How Free Practice 2 unfolded…
There was a bit of a queue at the exit of the pit lane prior to the pit exit light going green. After changeable conditions in the previous session, where rain had hampered the field’s practice programmes, the British Silverstone track became extremely busy as all the drivers ventured out onto the circuit.
After a wet FP1, the pack went out with a range of different tyre compounds. In the first set of laps, the tyre choice for the field were:
Soft-tyre runners:
- Fernando Alonso, Alpine
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine
- Alexander Albon, Williams
- Nicholas Latifi, Williams
Medium-tyre runners:
- Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri
- Mick Schumacher, Haas
- Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull
- Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo
- Sir Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
Hard-tyre runners:
- George Russell, Mercedes
- Lando Norris, McLaren
- Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri
- Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
- Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas
- Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin
As the session finished its first quarter, Leclerc topped the timing board with a 1:29.462, 0.423 seconds quicker than Verstappen who was sat in P2. Despite the upgrades, for Mercedes, Hamilton was only able to climb up to P4 – on the same compound as Leclerc, just under a second slower.
In an attempt to understand their own upgrades, Williams had covered the right-hand side of Albon’s FW44 with red flow-vis paint.
After the halfway mark, for FP2, Sainz had climbed up to the top of the timing board – although he had exceeded track limits, ahead of Norris and Leclerc who were P2 and P3 respectively. Out of the top five, Leclerc was the only driver not to set his fastest lap on the soft tyres. However, this soon changed and the Monegasque finally ran with the red-ringed tyres, but Leclerc remained P3 because he failed to put together a competitive lap.
Only Verstappen and Perez were the only drivers, within the title fight, yet to set a lap on the soft compounds.
As the session neared the 45-minute mark, Verstappen climbed up to P4, 0.207 seconds off the pace – on the softs – but the biggest surprise came from Hamilton who went second fastest, 0.163 seconds behind Sainz.
That’s it for the article: F1 British GP: Carlos Sainz goes fastest in dry FP2! After the usual Friday practice, who are your early contenders for pole position tomorrow? Let us know in the comments!
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
