Carlos Sainzwho two weeks ago in Canada came closer than ever to his first victory in the formula 1has closed on Friday as the fastest at the end of the second free practice session of the British Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver, who had to resort to his third engine of the season reaching the limit without penalty, led the afternoon session ahead of the local idol Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and the also British Lando Norris (McLaren), while the champion and leader Max Verstappen (Red Bull) started in fourth place, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso.
Unlike the first morning free practices, conditioned by the rain and dominated by Bottas, hehe second session took place on a dry track, the cloudy sky and a mild ambient temperature of 19ºC and 30ºC on the asphalt. This has allowed the teams, most of them with technical and aerodynamic news for this weekend, to begin to have valid references of their performance, although the times may not be very representative for tomorrow’s battle for pole position on Saturday ( 4:00 p.m.).
Ferrari started at the front, with Leclerc setting the best time with the medium compound (1.29.462) ahead of Sainz, just 81 thousandths away, and World Championship leader Max Verstappen, third, four tenths away with Red Bull. Your partner Sergio Pérez was fourth, ahead of Lewis Hamiltonwhich completed the provisional ‘top five’, although still 9 tenths off the best and without giving the impression of approaching the leading pace despite the fact that Mercedes has made significant improvements.
Lando Norris has been the first to mount the soft and has been placed in front with the McLaren, but his former teammate Sainz has responded with a lap of 1:29.014 (which he has subsequently lowered to 1:28.942), after his stop to also change to the faster compound. Fernando Alonso, who debuts pontoons and floor in his Alpine, has climbed to fourth position, although still behind the time achieved by Leclerc with the media.
Hamilton has managed to complete a good lap to the home circuit, in which he has accumulated a record of eight victories, and has climbed to second position less than two tenths behind Sainz and ahead of Norris and Verstappenwho has modified the ‘set up’ of his RB18 during the session.
Though the FIA has given teams two margin grand prixesGreat Britain and Austria, to solve the problems derived from the ‘porpoising‘ or rebound, these free seconds at Silverstone have left images of great effect in some cars, including Ferrari or Alonso’s Alpine.
Third engine for Sainz
In championship key and if we talk about reliabilityCarlos Sainz is on the brink of a penalty after using his third engine for the first time. Ferrari has changed in Silvertstone the turbo, the MGU-H and the MGU-K of the Madrid driver’s car, in all three cases reaching the limit of permitted units, so that as of this weekend any change in one of These three elements will lead to a penalty on the grid that will directly affect Sainz’s interests, as happened to his teammate Charles Leclerc in Canada.
