The McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked the first two positions on Friday’s Free Practice 2 at the Silverstone’s British Grand Prix.
Mclaren was separated by three-tenths and one more extra tenth to third-placed Sergio Perez.
Woking-based team cemented their strong showing with another double ‘Top 3’ result at Friday’s sessions.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez ended up in 3rd while the surprise of the session, Nico Hülkenberg brought his Haas in 4th.
The session was ‘prematurely ended’ 6 minutes to go as the rain started to fall meaning that drivers could not return to a track even with wet compounds.
Free practice 2 recap
Compared to the first practice session which was hit by an early red flag and a high risk of rainfall. The Free Practice 2 of the British GP went clear from the start till the end.
Rain was not forecasted for Free Practice 2 up until the last 20 minutes, In the meantime, drivers could freely do a race simulation long run, which generally suits the afternoon’s Friday practice.
Drivers did not waste too much time and everyone set a flying lap right after the sessions started.
Ferrari, particularly their Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc was not satisfied with an early car setup as he struggled while pushing the car to the limits.
I really struggle in high speed, I don’t know if you see how tricky the car is…
Charles Leclerc providing a feedback to his race engineer Bryan Bozz
Albeit Ferrari’s wrestling with the high-speed corners of Silverstone, both drivers somehow managed to dive into the top 5 standings into half-way distance.
Mid-way into the session, drivers replaced yellow-based medium tires with softer red compounds.
Verstappen was the quickest and the most balanced car on medium tires however, he did not lead the standings when the clock hit the middle mark of the session.
McLaren of Norris and Piastri locked the first two positions in the first part of the session.
We have rain coming for the very end of session, around 15 to 20 minutes from now on.
Pierre Hamelin reports the newest weather update to his ‘partner’ Daniel Ricciardo as the clock runs down to 23 minutes
Formula 1’s official weather report suggested rain to hit a Northamptonshire area with 10 minutes till the checkered flag.
The free Practice 2 leader was notified that rain would hit the Stove corner first.
When the rain comes, it should be very heavy, very hefty.
Lando Norris’ racing engineer William Joseph constantly provides an updates on a weather situation at Silverstone
Drivers are in a hurry to provide a final quick lap before rain clears the track and prevents them from fighting the ‘Papaya team’ for the 1st place.
Stronger wind, darker clouds, and lower temperatures ‘cooled down’ the track and no driver improved on their times.