Verstappen edges out Leclerc in second Canadian GP practice, Hamilton 13th
The threat of rain subsided for the second practice session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, giving all the teams 60 more minutes of dry weather running.
Verstappen continued where he left off as he dominated the afternoon session in Montreal.
The Dutchman’s 1m14.127s stood well clear of the rest of the field until Leclerc got within a tenth.
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Like in FP1, Verstappen was mighty in the final third of the lap with the RB18 performing well on the straights whereas Ferrari were more competitive in the tighter middle sector.
Leclerc still hasn’t used the medium tyres so far this weekend which suggests he saving them for the race, particularly if he is hit with a grid penalty for taking more power unit components.
Regardless, Ferrari were competitive with Carlos Sainz backing up his teammate in third, just over 0.2s off the pace.
Sebastian Vettel was the star of the session for Aston Martin as he continues his resurgence in 2022.
Vettel has scored points in the last two races and looks back to his best as he ended FP2 an impressive fourth, just 0.315s behind Verstappen.
Fernando Alonso completed the top five for Alpine, 0.4s off Verstappen’s benchmark.
Pierre Gasly’s upturn in form also continued in FP2 as he finished sixth overall ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and McLaren duo Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris.
Esteban Ocon made it two Alpines in the top 10 albeit over half a second off his teammate.
The Frenchman had a disrupted morning after suffering a front-right brake issue.
Sergio Perez will be scratching his head as he could only manage the 11th quickest time, over one second off teammate Verstappen.
Lance Stroll and Lewis Hamilton had substantial deficits to their respective teammates - 0.9s in the Canadian’s case.
The seven-time champion also reverted to an older specification of floor after testing an experimental version in the morning session.
A couple of drivers will have to see the stewards after the session.
Gasly failed to follow the race director’s instructions at the final chicane as he failed to take to the bollard when he locked up - Stroll is also under investigation for the same offence.
Vettel and Aston Martin will also be required to see the stewards after an unsafe release into the path of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.
Another Friday disaster for Bottas
It was deja vu down at Alfa Romeo with Valtteri Bottas sat in the garage for the majority of the session.
The 10-time grand prix winner only managed three laps in what was another disrupted session for him.
While Alfa Romeo haven’t officially confirmed what the issue was, Bottas complained about an issue with the dashboard on his steering wheel which was linked to how the car was braking.
More reliability issues don’t bode well for the team given that teammate Guanyu Zhou - who was 16th fastest in FP2 - has retired from three of the last four grands prix due to technical issues.
