Verstappen ends Friday fastest ahead of Ferrari pair in Canada

Max Verstappen ended Friday fastest of all after the second practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix.

After topping the times sheets in the earlier session, Verstappen improved on his own best time to set the overall quickest lap of a 1’14.127, just under a tenth of a second faster than Charles Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz Jnr was third-fastest, ahead of a quintet of different cars: Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso’s Alpine, Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri, George Russell’s Mercedes and Lando Norris in the first of the two McLarens.

The session had barely begun when Kevin Magnussen had to take immediate avoiding action when Aston Martin released Vettel straight in front him in the pit lane. The incident will be investigated by the stewards after the session.

After going fastest of all in the earlier session, Verstappen immediately went even faster right out of the pits, setting a 1’14.792 on the medium compound tyres. Leclerc was almost half a second off the Red Bull in second, before Alonso moved ahead of the Ferrari on the soft tyres to go behind Verstappen.

Sergio Perez appeared to be struggling with his braking points, locking up into the turn ten hairpin before doing the same into turn one, running off track and missing the first two corners. Pierre Gasly also misjudged his braking for the final chicane, and missed the corner, but failed to stay to the left of the bollard on the escape road as per the race directors’ instructions. He will also be investigated after the session.

Valtteri Bottas fell into anti-stall and was called into the pit lane to abandon a run. He was soon sent back out, but radioed that the problem remained and made his way back to the garage.

The Virtual Safety Car was briefly deployed due to a discarded drinks can rolling along the circuit at the hairpin. A local marshal soon collected the debris – to the cheers of the Canadian fans in attendance – and the session was soon resumed.

When it did, Verstappen improved on his own fastest time by four tenths of a second to a 1’14.1 on the soft tyres. Leclerc also went quicker on the soft tyres, going within a tenth of a second of the Red Bull.

A miscommunication between Alfa Romeo and Zhou Guanyu led to Zhou holding up Daniel Ricciardo on the way into turn three, causing the McLaren driver to abandon his flying effort. Vettel became the next driver to overshoot the chicane and, like Gasly, failed to rejoin the circuit correctly, also earning him a post-session trip to the stewards.

With ten minutes remaining in the session, all 20 cars bar Bottas’s Alfa Romeo were on circuit, with everyone focusing on long runs. Lewis Hamilton complained his Mercedes was “undriveable”, giving up on a run after oversteering off the circuit at turn nine.

There were no major improvements in the final minutes of the race, leaving Verstappen fastest of all with his earlier best time of a 1’14.127. The two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz ended the day second and third, respectively, just under a tenth and two tenths slower than the championship leader.

Vettel put Aston Martin fourth fastest, just ahead of Alonso and Gasly’s AlphaTauri. Russell was the quickest of the Mercedes in seventh, ahead of the McLaren pair of Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten for Alpine.

2022 Canadian Grand Prix second practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	RB18	1’14.127		33
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	F1-75	1’14.208	0.081	32
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	F1-75	1’14.352	0.225	32
4	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR22	1’14.442	0.315	35
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	A522	1’14.543	0.416	24
6	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT03	1’14.879	0.752	34
7	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W13	1’14.971	0.844	31
8	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL36	1’14.987	0.860	30
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL36	1’15.033	0.906	31
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A522	1’15.119	0.992	32
11	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	RB18	1’15.167	1.040	29
12	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR22	1’15.396	1.269	34
13	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W13	1’15.421	1.294	25
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-22	1’15.499	1.372	34
15	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	VF-22	1’15.516	1.389	35
16	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C42	1’15.526	1.399	31
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT03	1’15.567	1.440	37
18	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW44	1’16.171	2.044	30
19	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	FW44	1’16.509	2.382	27
20	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C42	No time		3

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2022 Canadian Grand Prix

• Alfa Romeo see “great future in F1” for Zhou after best result so far
• Ocon has “big hopes” for Alpine’s Silverstone upgrade package
• Hamilton’s Canada podium especially satisfying after run of “bad luck” – Wolff
• Verstappen urges Red Bull to find more pace after close win in Canada
• More confident Sainz is now a contender for wins – Binotto

Browse all 2022 Canadian Grand Prix articles