Cars are back on track again at Silverstone following the earlier, fragmented session. Leclerc’s Ferrari is the first car out on track, whereas Ocon posts the first time in 1:28.998s on mediums, with the best first lap attempt put in by Verstappen in 1:27.831s, ahead of Lando Norris and George Russell.
Magnussen, Gasly, Perez and Sargeant all returned after missing FP1 to give rookies some running. The Frenchman runs wide on the kerbs. Leclerc, still running the new spec car, mentions issues in the high speed corners.
Bottas, Hulkenberg, Stroll and Ricciardo are out on hards, with the rest of the grid opting for mediums. Verstappen lowers his benchmark at 1:27.233s on softs, inspiring Alonso to change compound as well. The Spaniard slots into P2, but it’s short lived as Bottas is only 0.005s ahead of him.
Aston Martin fans will be pleased to see Lance Stroll cycling at P2 with his first soft attempt as well.
Notable mention for Albon in P5, 0.412s off Verstappen’s P1, with more and more drivers switching to the more pliable compound.
At the halfway point of the session it’s a 1-2 for McLaren, Norris leading with a 1:26.549s from Piastri 0.331s away and the impressive Nico Hülkenberg. Verstappen runs wide off track at Chapel, following Leclerc’s huge moment at the same corner. The Brit session leader had a moment on the kerbs and returns to the pits in order to check his floor.
A number of different strategies are unfolding in this session, with different teams running split setuyps in order to maximise track time. Ricciardo gets told on the radio to brace himself for rain, which is set to come in the final stages of the session.
Magnussen, who is yet to sign a lap on the softs, is the latest driver to run off track at Stowe. Perez moves up to P3 right behind the McLaren duo, becoming the best placed Red Bull car right now, while the rest of the grid focuses on long runs on different tyres.
With five minutes to go it started to rain, and all the cars returned to the pits apart from the McLaren’s and Sainz, but they come in as well shortly after. Many drivers make an explorative trip on inters, including Perez, Leclerc and Hamilton.
A quite session followed the chaos of FP1, as Norris ends the afternoon one on top as well. This time round it’s a 1-2 for McLaren with Piastri in P2 and Perez in third. Hülkenberg and Leclerc round off the top 5, with Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz, Stroll and Russell in the top 10.
