Max Verstappen has completed second free practice for the fastest British Grand Prix. The Dutch rider recorded a lap time of 1:28.078 and ended up at the top of the time list. This is the last session of the day for Formula 1. Only Porsche Supercup free practice will be held at Silverstone today. Tomorrow the riders from the premier class must be ready at 12.30 Dutch time for the final practice before qualifying.

The second free practice session in England started at 17:05 after being slightly delayed due to the incident-ridden Formula 2 qualifying session. The session was held in good weather conditions. The temperature outside reached 26 degrees Celsius and the track warmed up to 42 degrees Celsius. There was a light breeze of only a kilometer or two per hour.

Problem for Leclerc

Nineteen of the twenty drivers went straight out with half the course on medium compound and the other half on hard tyres. Charles Leclerc, however, remained in the garage. His Ferrari had an electronics problem. Monegask also didn’t put on his helmet and didn’t move to get behind the wheel. Verstappen was media fastest in the first lap at 1:29.550 and was therefore 0.464 seconds quicker than Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez. McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri was also good and beat Pérez by two tenths of a second. Lewis Hamilton had to come out of one of his laps after making a mistake at Vale. Carlos Sainz and Pérez were quicker than Verstappen and after the first fifteen minutes Ferrari took the lead with a lap time of 1:29.083.

Two Williams cars made the top five

After that it calmed down a bit with only Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu on track. Aston Martin was the first to switch to soft tires and took the second fastest time, 0.051 seconds behind compatriot Sainz. The Red Bulls then improved a full second by also switching to red-border rubber. Verstappen remained ahead by 0.022 seconds after a lap time of 1:28.078. The energy drink manufacturer’s car was split by Sainz and Williams from Alexander Albon, who has finished an impressive third in FP1. James Vowles’ team’s second car was in P5 midway through the session thanks to Logan Sargeant’s 1:28.766. Aston Martins had to carefully return to the pits. Alonso had problems on the front left where a piece caught near a tire, and Lance Stroll lost his mirror.

Running race

In the second half of Free Practice 2, the team concentrated mainly on pre-race setups so that the lap time in front of the pitch was not increased any further. However, the race is not without problems. His finger was hit by a rock, but continued despite the pain, and Nyck de Vries received another stab. Verstappen, Sainz, Albon, Pérez and Sargeant held positions 1 to 5 respectively. Stroll, Nico Hülkenberg, Pierre Gasly, Piastri and Alonso made the top ten. George Russell complained that he had no grip and was twelfth behind Zhou. Hamilton also seems to have a lack of pace and will have to settle for P15 behind Esteban Ocon and Lando Norris. Valtteri Bottas and Magnussen finished ahead of Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri and De Vries. Leclerc took no action and finished twentieth.