Lance Stroll tops FP2; Albon crashes; Hulk 7th fastest

Silverstone, 31 July 2020: Racing Point’s Lance Stroll set the pace in the second practice session ahead of Sunday’s FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix. The Canadian eclipsed Red Bull Racing’s Alex Albon by just under a tenth of a second. There was trouble for Albon, however, with the Thai driver crashing out soon after his qualifying run. 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led the way on medium compound tyres in the initial stages of the session with a lap of 1:28.773s on the medium rubber but he was soon pushed out of top spot by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and by Albon who were also running mediums. Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas then moved clear on medium tyres with a lap of 1:27.731s.

The switch to soft tyres for qualifying runs began shortly before the halfway point of the 90-minute session, with Albon one of the first out on track on the red-banded compound. He swiftly moved back to the top of the order with a lap of 1:27.363.

However, Stroll then edged him out with a lap of 1:27.274. Verstappen might have beaten both but on midway through his soft tyre run he came across Grosjean in the middle of track through Maggots/Becketts. Verstappen was forced to abandon his lap. 

Bottas and team-mate Lewis Hamilton then bolted on soft tyres but could not match Stroll or Albon, with Bottas taking third, 0.157 off top spot, and Hamilton a further 0.15 behind.

The session was then red-flagged when Albon lost the rear of his RB16 midway through Stowe corner and slid hard into the barriers. The impact heavily damaged the rear and left-hand side of the car and brought out the red flags. 

Carlos Sainz finished sixth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who finished 0.636s off his new team-mate. Pierre Gasly took eighth for AlphaTauri, with Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Räikkönen rounding out the top 10.

Elsewhere, Sebastian Vettel’s troubled day continued, and after completing just two laps in the morning he missed a large part of FP2 as Ferrari changed the pedals on his car after he had reported something being loose in his cockpit.

2020 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Free Practice Two 
1 Lance Stroll Racing Point-BWT Mercedes RP20 Racing Point 29 1:27.274 
2 Alex Albon Red Bull Racing-Honda RB16 Red Bull 13 1:27.364 0.090
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes F1 W11 EQ Power+ Mercedes 30 1:27.431 0.157
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF1000 Ferrari 30 1:27.570 0.296
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W11 EQ Power+ Mercedes 27 1:27.581 0.307
6 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault MCL35 McLaren 35 1:27.820 0.546
7 Nico Hulkenberg Racing Point-BWT Mercedes RP20 Racing Point 28 1:27.910 0.636
8 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda AT01 AlphaTauri 31 1:27.997 0.723
9 Daniel Ricciardo Renault R.S.20 Renault 30 1:28.112 0.838
10 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari C39 Alfa Romeo 35 1:28.159 0.885
11 Lando Norris McLaren-Renault MCL35 McLaren 26 1:28.169 0.895
12 Esteban Ocon Renault R.S.20 Renault 35 1:28.219 0.945
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari C39 Alfa Romeo 31 1:28.256 0.982
14 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda RB16 Red Bull 23 1:28.390 1.116
15 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri-Honda AT01 AlphaTauri 29 1:28.426 1.152
16 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari VF-20 Haas 27 1:28.564 1.290
17 George Russell Williams-Mercedes FW43 Williams 26 1:28.771 1.497
18 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari SF1000 Ferrari 23 1:28.860 1.586
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari VF-20 Haas 27 1:28.898 1.624
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes FW43 Williams 35 1:29.958 2.684