Close to Verstappen – Saint, unrecognizable Williams, problems for Leclerc in FP2

Max Verstappen stayed on top in the second practice session of the British GP, the tenth round of this year’s Formula One, but this time he seems to have a fight ahead – with last year’s Silverstone winner Carlos Sainz driving Ferrari SF -23 in just 22 milliseconds from the Dutchman.

At the start of the hour-long session, all the drivers took to the track for several laps on the medium and hard tires – with the exception of Charles Leclerc, who remained in the pits (and outside the cockpit) while the Scuderia’s engineers worked on an electrical problem in the Monegasque SF-23. Ultimately, however, they were unsuccessful in getting the 25-year-old to take to the track in these tests.

Initially, Perez was a tenth faster than Verstappen at the lead on the medium tire until Sainz dethroned the Mexican in the Ferrari SF-23 by almost 0.4 inches. Hamilton came within inches of Verstappen while Pierre Gasly’s Alpine time was impressive – two and a half tenths behind Perez’ Red Bull, albeit on the hard tyre.

Also on the medium tyre, Oscar Piastri improved to 21mm over Verstappen, around three tenths ahead of Lando Norris – because, remember, on those three days the young Australian purchased the extensive upgrade package McLaren in Austria on Norris’ MCL60 attached.

Saint stayed in the lead for a long time, 0.37 inches ahead of Perez – until Fernando Alonso started the “dance” of the qualifying test simulations with the soft rubber in the 20th minute. The Spaniard was 51mm short of breaking Saind’s first time on the medium tyre.

The one who did, however, was shortly after Verstappen with his first fast lap (in 1:28.078) on the soft tyre, a full second quicker than Ferrari’s Spaniard.

Sainz’s reaction brought the Spaniard within 22 milliseconds of the Dutchman, while another impressive performance from Alex Albon Williams moved into third place, two and a half tenths ahead of Verstappen.

The Williams’ improvement, which does not seem to be due (at least not in large part) to a lower fuel load, but rather to its excellent straight-line speed, was also confirmed by Logan Sargeant with a 5th place finish. The American was around seven tenths ahead of Verstappen and almost 0.24 inches behind fourth-placed Perez.

Shortly after half an hour, the protagonists returned to the track on soft rubber but with a higher fuel load to collect data on the race lap times on this type of tire. Then many cars followed again with the two tires that were most difficult to collect for the race, and so the top position did not change until the end.

Aston Martin and Mercedes seemed out of their element for the second year in a row at the Silverstone circuit, as they didn’t look – or didn’t want to look – competitive with Ferrari and, surprisingly, Williams.

Mercedes could improve their luck over the three-day period, however, as Saint admitted the W14’s race speed on the soft rubber was quite high.

The qualifying tests for the British GP will take place tomorrow, Saturday (07/08) at 17:00, at the same time as the race on Sunday (07/09). Don’t miss her LIVE coverage of the Sportish.