British Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Carlos Sainz comfortable

If the first free practice session 1 had been disrupted by the rain, this FP2 was held on a dry track. Almost all the drivers took advantage of this to leave the garage in order to compensate for the lack of data collected during FP1. Completing laps was crucial for many teams who brought significant improvements to Silverstone.

This is the case with Williams, who has almost completely changed their single-seater. The floor and side pods have evolved a lot between Canada and Silverstone. That’s why the entire side of Alexander Albon’s car was painted pink using a special paint that allows engineers to visualize the aerodynamic flow. These improvements seemed to be working for the Thai driver. After 20 minutes of the session, he was in 7th position. The former Red Bull driver was lapping at similar times as the two Alpines.

At the start of the session, Max Verstappen alerted his team about a strange noise coming from his car. Reassured that there were no issues with his RB18, the Dutchman initially completed a few laps before returning to his garage where his mechanics worked on his car.

The other member of the Red Bull team who had a difficult session was Pierre Gasly. His front left brake was damaged, temporarily blocking him in the pits. When he returned to the track, the Norman driver complained of a lack of grip. It looks like a relatively complicated race weekend for AlphaTauri, as they are the only team not bringing any upgrades to Silverstone.

If George Russell took the time to warm up his hard tires, it seemed that once they were hot, the British driver became very competitive. His engineer then informed him that he was lapping in the same times as the Ferrari drivers. Mercedes has high expectations in Great Britain after Toto Wolff stated that the star brand has made significant improvements to its car. These improvements are supposed to allow Mercedes to get closer to the leaders. Lewis Hamilton continues to confirm these hopes by finishing second in free practice sessions for the second consecutive time.

It is Carlos Sainz who finished first in this second free practice session. The Spanish driver is one and a half tenths ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. In third position is Lando Norris. So, a good second free practice session for the local heroes.