As in TL1, the Dutchman led the second and final session on Friday in Montreal. The reigning world champion was ahead of Leclerc and Sainz, while Pérez was poor and outside the top-10
Max Verstappen 2, rest of the grid 0. Formula 1 returned to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve early on Friday evening (17) for the second free practice for the Canadian Grand Prix and saw the reigning world champion once again lead, just like in the opening session. Unlike the rain, Red Bull's strength definitely showed in Montreal.
Ferrari, meanwhile, is scratching its head to think about how to overtake the Taurinos. Charles Leclerc, admittedly, was closer to rival Verstappen in TL2: second position for the Monegasque, 0s081 behind the leader. Carlos Sainz completed the top-3 in F1's final session on Friday.
And Sergio Pérez? The Mexican driver did little on the Canadian track, but when he did, he did not show relevant pace. 1min15s167 for the 'Czech', 1s040 behind his teammate, good enough for 11th place in the second free practice.
Sebastian Vettel surprised once again, as did Fernando Alonso. The two veterans continued the good momentum of TL1 and appeared 4th and 5th on the timesheets, respectively. Pierre Gasly, George Russell, Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, and Esteban Ocon completed the top-10. Lewis Hamilton was only 13th, highlighting the persistent problems of the "inoperable" Mercedes with the kicks.
GRANDE PRÊMIO follows all the activities LIVE and IN REALTIME. On Saturday, TL3 is scheduled for 2pm (GMT-3), while qualifying starts at 5pm.
Check out how TL2 of the F1 Canadian GP went:
At the scheduled time, 6pm (Brasília), the cars took to the track for the final activity of the Formula 1 Friday in Montreal. If there was a threat of rain, it was possible to tell right away that we would not see water in TL2 - the sun was present at the start of the session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Even before any driver set a fast lap, we already had the first relevant event of the second free practice. That's because, on the way out to the pits, Aston Martin released Sebastian Vettel from the garage 'on top' of Kevin Magnussen's car, who complained via radio. The FIA promised to investigate.
In the three-minute session, only Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and George Russell had not yet taken to the track. The first two soon left, the Mercedes duo stayed. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen crossed the finish line in 1min15s618 on medium tires, taking the provisional lead.
Soon, Sergio Pérez joined his teammate at the top of the timesheet with 1min16s388. As with TL1, Red Bull started the second and final session of the day in strong fashion. This was further proven when the reigning world champion, still in the midfield, lowered his own time to 1min15s096.
Shortly after, the FOM broadcast showed interaction between Charles Leclerc and Ferrari. In the pit-lane, the Italian team asked the Monegasque to make two starts. The driver replied that he couldn't do it, as something was limiting the engine power. The answer: "that was the problem with the turbo. It is worth remembering that Leclerc escaped punishment even with engine changes for Canada.
Meanwhile, Verstappen kept flying on the track. Not even the good time set by Leclerc was able to stop the Dutchman, who posted a 1min14s792 - still in the mid-range - and put 0s496 ahead of the second place, which was precisely the Monegasque. Detail: Leclerc recorded a time with soft compounds.
This exemplified Ferrari's decision to adopt different strategies with its drivers at the start of TL2, as Carlos Sainz - who complained of worsening kicks in his F1-75 compared to TL1 - was on the track on medium tires.
On the timesheets, Fernando Alonso continued to set an impressive pace. The Alpine Spaniard clocked 1min15s125 and knocked Leclerc out of second place, second only to leader Verstappen.
The complaints from the kicks continued. The porpoising plagued not only Ferrari, which saw Sainz again saying that "the dolphin swimming is very bad", but also Mercedes (as usual): Russell indicated that the W13 jumped during the whole track, but even more at turn 9.
The problems didn't stop there. The FIA announced an investigation into Pierre Gasly after the session, as the AlphaTauri Frenchman escaped the last chicane and did not return to the track at the place previously determined by the entity. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas accused fault in his Alfa Romeo and the team asked the Finn to return to the pits.
Shortly before the 30-minute mark of TL2, the virtual safety-car was triggered. Accident? No. A soda can was thrown on the circuit when only Lance Stroll, Alexander Albon, Yuki Tsunoda, and Sebastian Vettel were on the track. The inspector was in action and the track was cleared.
The green flag and Bottas tried to get back on track, but again his Alfa Romeo broke down: another return to the pits. Meanwhile, Red Bull put soft tires on Verstappen's RB18 and reaped the rewards of the decision shortly after: 1min14s127 for the Dutchman and an even more assured lead, 0s703 ahead of Leclerc.
But the Monegasque soon picked up the pace. With soft tires, the third place in the World Driver's Championship set a 1min14s208 and was only 0s081 behind his Red Bull rival. The Taurus, it should be noted, only had Verstappen in the race against Ferrari in TL2: Sergio Pérez, 25 minutes from the end, was only in tenth place, 1s040 behind.
Vettel, keeping up the good momentum of Aston Martin on F1 Friday in Canada, in fourth position, complained that something came loose inside the English car at the last chicane. Off to the pits for the four-time world champion as track action cooled down.
In the last minutes of TL2, not much happened. Daniel Ricciardo and Guanyu Zhou had a disagreement on the track, but nothing major: the Chinese driver thought the Australian was not coming on a fast lap and did not give way, but the McLaren driver paid little attention and only mentioned "traffic" on the radio. Meanwhile, Red Bull informed Verstappen that it would not rain until 30 minutes after the end of the session.
As usual, the final stretch was for the teams to test race pace and perform data analysis. Alonso showed good speed in the sequence on hard tires, while Bottas did not have this opportunity - the faults in his Alfa Romeo prevented him from even setting a quick lap. The only highlight was Hamilton's statement over the radio: "the car is unplayable". Work to be done, Mercedes. Let's look forward to F1 Saturday in Canada.