Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet in the second practice session for this weekend’s 2002 FIA Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix, beating team-mate Carlos Sainz by just 0.004s as Ferrari completed a 1-2 finish. Championship-leading Red Bull struggled for pace, however, with Drivers’ title leader Max Verstappen finishing eighth while team-mate Sergio Pérez was classified 12th.
The start of the session was delayed by 15 minutes due to two red flag periods during qualifying for the Formula 2 race and in the early stages of the session Sainz led the way with a lap of 1:13.544. Verstappen soon emerged, however, and with soft tyres on board he stole P1 with a lap of 1:13.465.
Sainz then retook first place with a lap of 1:13.412 and he was then backed up by Leclerc who slotted into second place before the field returned to the pit lane to plot their qualifying simulations.
Sainz was the first of the frontrunners to head out on soft tyres and on the quicker tyre the Ferrari driver improved to a time of 1:12.349 to cement himself into P1. Verstappen then took to the track on the red-banded tyres but his effort was well off the pace and he crossed the line almost seven tenths of a second off the Spaniard.
Mercedes’ George Russell stole into second place soon after but his time was then beaten by McLaren’s Lando Norris and Hamilton in the second Mercedes.
Leclerc then appeared at the halfway mark and the Monegasque driver vaulted to first place ahead of Sainz, though only just. Leclerc’s time of 1:12.345 was 0.004s ahead of his team-mate’s.
Behind Hamilton, Norris held onto fourth place ahead of Russell, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll sixth ahead of the Alpine of Fernando Alonso. Verstappen slumped to eighth place at the flag, while Esteban Ocon was ninth in the other Alpine, though three tenths behind the Dutchman. Ocon was the last man inside a second of Leclerc.
Tenth place went to Daniel Ricciardo in the second McLaren, with AlphaTauri’s 11th on a time of 1:13.419. That put the Japanese driver 0.075s ahead of Sergio Pérez who after finishing a a second off the pace in the morning ended up 1.148s off in the afternoon.
Tsunoda’s run to 11th wasn’t without incident. In the final 15 minutes of the session the Japanese driver slid into the gravel at Turn 10, an off that brought out the red flags and caused a seven-minute delay.
2022 FIA Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:12.345 27 211.934
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:12.349 0.004 30 211.922
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.417 0.072 21 211.723
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:12.448 0.103 24 211.633
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:12.655 0.310 27 211.030
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:12.746 0.401 28 210.766
7 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:12.848 0.503 25 210.471
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:13.042 0.697 22 209.912
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:13.305 0.960 27 209.158
10 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:13.362 1.017 10 208.996
11 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Red Bull 1:13.419 1.074 19 208.834
12 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 1:13.493 1.148 23 208.623
13 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:13.604 1.259 27 208.309
14 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:13.611 1.266 27 208.289
15 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:13.624 1.279 25 208.252
16 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Red Bull 1:13.666 1.321 16 208.134
17 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:13.837 1.492 26 207.651
18 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:14.167 1.822 27 206.728
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:14.282 1.937 25 206.408
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:14.797 2.452 24 204.986
