After Lewis Hamilton set the pace in FP1, Formula 1 returned for the second practice ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. In FP2, drivers and teams alike began performing long runs, testing tyre durability ahead of Sunday’s race in order to calculate strategy.
Kimi Raikkonen fastest time in FP2 ahead of Canadian Grand Prix
After doing short runs in the early stages of the session, teams began to do longer runs in order to test tyre durability, with teams testing the ultrasofts, supersofts, and soft compound tyres that are available to drivers this weekend. During this time, a number of drivers continued to make mistakes, with Romain Grosjean, Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel, Stoffel Vandoorne, Daniil Kvyat, and Sergio Perez all spinning out on track, most of which occurred in the chicane of turns 1 and 2 and in turn 6.
The session was very difficult for Red Bull Racing, with the Milton Keynes based team continuing to struggle after ending practice one down in seventh and ninth. In the early stages, Daniel Ricciardo‘s running was cut short, with the Australian being forced to return to the garage following an engine issue. This issue has since been investigated and it appears that the engine has been lost according to team principal, Christian Horner. Max Verstappen‘s session also ended early, with the driver stopping out on track with 20 minutes of the session to go, bringing out the red flag after having a gearbox failure.
Kimi Raikkonen set the pace in the session for Ferrari, leading Lewis Hamilton by 0.215 seconds after setting a lap time of a 1:12.935 – the fastest lap of the weekend so far. Sebastian Vettel was 0.265 slower than Raikkonen and ended the session in third while Bottas ended the session down in fourth, 0.375 seconds off the pace.
Fernando Alonso got some running in FP2 for McLaren after breaking down in first practice. In the session, Alonso impressively set the seventh fastest time around the circuit that is heavily reliant on power, outperforming the limits of his car once again. Despite this encouraging result, it is difficult to imagine that Alonso will be able to repeat this performance later in the weekend as other teams begin to turn up their engines for qualifying runs.
After two practice sessions, both Ferrari and Mercedes are looking quite close in terms of performance and it is shaping up to be another exciting weekend in Canada. Through Red Bull Racing’s difficulties so far this weekend, the battle to be third best is also looking close, with Force India looking closer to Red Bull than usual this weekend.
Results from Practice 2 of the Canadian Grand Prix:
- Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:12.935
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:13.150
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:13.200
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 1:13.310
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1:13.388
- Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:14.063
- Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:14.245
- Esteban Ocon, Force India, 1:14.299
- Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1:14.461
- Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:14.501
- Romain Grosjean, Haas F1, 1:14.566
- Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 1:14.604
- Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1:14.621
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1, 1:14.676
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 1:15.072
- Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:15.127
- Lance Stroll, Williams, 1:15.240
- Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:15.611
- Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 1:15.624
- Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, 1:16.308
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