Max Verstappen continued to set the pace in the second practice session for the 2023 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix, with the Dutchman taking top spot just two hundredths of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Williams continued the good work it put in during the morning session, with Alex Albon repeating his P3 from FP1. There was frustration for Charles Leclerc, however, with the Ferrari driving missing the whole session due to an electrical issue.
The start of the session was delayed by five minutes so the track could be swept following several offs and crashes occurring in the FIA Formula 2 Champion qualifying session and when running began AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries was first on track.
It was Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez who set the early pace, however, with a time of 1:30.014. Verstappen soon beat that with a lap of 1:29.550, which stood for the next few minutes. Pérez eventually fought back, however, with a lap of 1:29.451. Sainz then popped up with 1:29.083 that put him in front of Perez and rounded out the initial period spent on medium and hard tyres.
Verstappen was the first of the frontrunners to appear for qualifying simulations on soft tyres and he powered to purple times in all three sectors to set a new benchmark of 1:28.078.
Pérez followed him, 0.264s behind, but he was moved back to fourth, first by Albon and then by Sainz, who posted a 1:28.100 to take P2, just 0.022s adrift of Verstappen.
The pack then switched to longer runs, De Vries brought the session to a close when he sustained a puncture late in the session. The blow out occurred when the Dutch driver braked for the Village right-hander. The Dutchman was able to return to the pits after briefly stopping inside the next turn, The Loop.
With Pérez forth, fifth place went to Williams’ rookie Logan Sargeant, the American driver underling the good work being put in by Williams. Sixth place went to Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, with Nico Hulkenberg in seventh for Haas. Pierre Gasly took eighth for Alpine ahead of Oscar Piastri, while Fernando Alonso rounded out the top 10.
Alonso also had his soft tyre lower fuel run interrupted, as Aston order him to quickly slow after he crossed the line following his flying lap as it had detected debris causing “a problem”, although it did not report this as a puncture. Zhou Guanyu was 11th for Alfa Romeo with Mercedes’ George Russell in P12, three ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Leclerc, however, missed the entire session. Ferrari identified an electrical issue on his car ahead of FP2 but the problem could not be solved during the session and Leclerc didn’t turn a lap.
2023 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:28.078 27 240.782
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:28.100 0.022 29 240.721
3 Alexander Albon Williams 1:28.296 0.218 30 240.187
4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing 1:28.342 0.264 30 240.062
5 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:28.766 0.688 29 238.915
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:28.866 0.788 30 238.646
7 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 1:28.880 0.802 28 238.609
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:28.889 0.811 27 238.585
9 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:28.926 0.848 29 238.485
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:29.134 1.056 26 237.929
11 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:29.225 1.147 28 237.686
12 George Russell Mercedes 1:29.238 1.160 25 237.652
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:29.242 1.164 24 237.641
14 Lando Norris McLaren 1:29.260 1.182 24 237.593
15 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:29.283 1.205 24 237.532
16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:29.378 1.300 28 237.279
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:29.439 1.361 20 237.118
18 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:29.483 1.405 25 237.001
19 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:29.571 1.493 29 236.768