Mercedes’ George Russell was fastest in dry FP2 of F1 Emilia Romagna GP from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
It was mostly dry in FP2 of F1 Emilia Romagna GP after the wet running on Friday. Rain, though, is predicted for Saturday’s sprint race and also Sunday’s grand prix which makes the dry running less valuable from the weekend point of view.
Still, F1 teams and drivers got good amount of track time apart from McLaren duo Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, with both facing separate issues during the course of FP2. While the Brit could do couple of laps before he was hit by brake problems.
Teammate Ricciardo didn’t run at all after McLaren found some issue with his power unit ahead of the session. It was same for Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who sat out after his side found out engine issue as well before the session.
On track, it was mixed strategy as Mercedes’ George Russell led the way with a 1m19.457s lap on the soft compound, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez (1m19.538s) in second and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1m19.740s) third – where the Mexican set his best time on medium tyre.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (1m19.992s) slotted in fourth from Alpine’s Fernando Alonso (1m20.174s), with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz (1m20.258s) in sixth, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (1m20.371s) seventh where the latter duo set their best time on the medium compound.
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m20.381s) and Pierre Gasly (1m20.439s) slotted in eighth and ninth, with Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou (1m20.498s) rounding the Top 10 where the Frenchman set his best time on the medium compound.
Williams had a better session with Alexander Albon in 11th from Haas pair of Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in 14th from his teammate Sebastian Vettel – the two Germans used medium tyres.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was 16th from Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, with McLaren’s Norris in 18th after the team managed to fix up his issue for couple more laps. His teammate Ricciardo and Bottas didn’t get any laps under their belt ahead of the sprint race.
