Red Bull
Max Verstappen was fourth fastest in second practice at Silverstone with teammate Sergio Perez P7. And while Verstappen was relatively confident after the first day of running, the same could not be said for Perez, who admitted he was already “on the back foot” after a difficult session when he felt the car was very different to the simulator he had been driving before the race weekend.
READ MORE: Red Bull miles away from Silverstone, Perez says – while Verstappen says no surprise to see Ferrari lead FP2
Max Verstappen – FP1: No lap time set, P20; FP2: 1:29.149, P4
“It’s always a bit difficult when you don’t do a lot of work in FP1, it means there’s a lot more guess work in FP2. I think we know what we need to work on and we will do it overnight. It looks like it will rain during qualifying tomorrow so there will be different conditions compared to our sessions today.
“I’ve done a few laps with high fuel on the softest compounds, the tires wear quickly here with all the high-speed corners, so it’s always going to be quite difficult to manage the tires on this track. Overall, today went well and I’m looking forward to qualifying tomorrow.”
Sergio Perez – FP1: No lap time set, P12; FP2: 1:29.753, P7
“It wasn’t a great session today, from the preparation I had on the simulator, the car is miles away from that. We suspect the problems are aerodynamics, but I can’t go into too much detail until I see the data properly and then we should understand the problems.
“Because of that we had a very short long run which affected the run at the end of the session. It’s not a great start to the weekend, we’re a bit behind now and we have to look at it in more detail now. It’s going to be hard to catch up but we’ve done it before and as long as we can put things in the right place we should be fine.
“You need confidence in these tight corners here, so as long as I can get it back, I should be fine. Ferrari look strong and I hope we can match them tomorrow in qualifying.”
NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – JULY 01: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands drives (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB18 on track during practice ahead of the F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 01, 2022 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – JULY 01: Sergio Perez of Mexico and Oracle Red Bull Racing prepares to drive in the garage during practice ahead of the British F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 01, 2022 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Ferrari
After his last P2 in Canada, Carlos Sainz carried that good form into practice at Silverstone, topping the second session on Friday afternoon. Charles Leclerc – who finished second at Silverstone last year – was half a second behind his team-mate but is confident he will be right at the sharp end once the race gets underway.
READ MORE: Leclerc reveals engine problems cost him in FP2 as Sainz says he can repeat championship on Saturday
Charles Leclerc – FP1: 1:43.801, P4; FP2: 1:29.404, P5
“We didn’t run much in FP1 today, but we did a few laps in the wet to have some data if there is qualifying in the wet tomorrow. After the rain stopped we put on a set of Soft tires but were unable to complete any laps on them due to a red flag.
“FP2 was a bit cleaner and I can say that our performance felt good in the car. I am confident that we will be competitive and it will be a matter of putting everything together.”
Carlos Sainz – FP1: 1:42.967, P3; FP2: 1:28.942, P1
“A busy second session after the lack of running in FP1. We had to put together an intense run plan for FP2 to test both short and long term pace properly. It was quite a challenging session. The wind made it difficult to get the right balance for the high-speed sections and the right trade-off for the tires in the low-speed ones.
“Overall we were quick, but it felt like there was room for improvement. Tomorrow’s qualifying could get interesting due to the weather, so those few wet laps in FP1 were also useful. Let’s see what tomorrow brings us.”
NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – JULY 01: Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Ferrari F1-75 during practice ahead of the F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 01, 2022 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – JULY 01: Carlos Sainz of Spain drives the (55) Ferrari F1-75 on track during practice ahead of the F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 01, 2022 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Mercedes
Mercedes arrived at Silverstone for this weekend’s British Grand Prix full of hope that their new upgrade package would finally allow them to unlock the speed potential of the W13. A wet FP1 session meant they learned very little in the morning, but Lewis Hamilton was an impressive P2 in second practice with George Russell eighth – although both drivers and team were cautious about how much speed they may have gained with the new updates.
READ MORE: ‘Definitely an improvement,’ says Hamilton after crowd-pleasing P2 in second Silverstone practice
Lewis Hamilton – FP1: 1:42.781, P2; FP2: 1:29.105, P2
“It was a good day, we managed 10 laps in FP1 which was better than most so I was happy with that. We’re bouncing a little bit still, not on the straights, but through the corners, so we still have work to do. It feels like a small step forward, but we have to keep working.
“With this car, you can’t drive the tracks like you used to, with how stiff it is and the ride characteristics, but it’s still fun through Maggotts, Becketts and also Stowe – it’s mega, my favorite corners. It was hard to feel the improvements because you come from such a different track – low speed corners in Montreal to medium and high speed corners here.
“The track is smoother than we’ve had recently, which is much better, but overall, this track is just the best, it’s still scary to ride. Our long run pace isn’t as good as some of the other guys, but it’s not far off. The crowd gives me hope, it’s so good to see them here and I appreciate the support so much.”
George Russell – FP1: No lap time set, P11; FP2: 1:29.799, P8
“I struggled with the low fuel compared to Lewis, he did a very strong lap. The high fuel was definitely more promising compared to the McLaren which was also on Hard. As our tires warmed up we showed good pace to the Ferrari and they were improving lap after lap.
“There are some positive signs, but there is definitely room for improvement. We need to understand why our race pace is so much stronger than ours in one lap, McLaren is very strong in one lap but we just can’t make the tires work more than one lap During the race we are in a pretty good window but always there’s balance, you can’t just put your eggs in one basket for Sunday.
“It’s a very different track to Montreal and Baku, we knew the car would be a challenge through the high-speed corners and it proved true through Copse, Maggotts and Becketts, the car was bouncing around so we have to try and figure that out.” But we’re not bouncing down the straights, which is positive.”
Andrew Shovlin, Director of Railway Engineering
“It’s great to be back at Silverstone and it’s fantastic to see the stands so full. It was our best Friday in several races. We still have a lot to improve, but the car works much better on this track than the last few street circuits.
“It’s really hard to judge whether the updates are doing exactly what we would expect, especially in windy conditions, but we haven’t seen anything to worry about, so we’ll continue with this spec until the end of the weekend.” George had a tougher session than Lewis but we had a hard tire on his car for the start of the second session and the double compound step made it difficult for him to get the most out of the soft.
“Having said that, his long-term pace has been encouraging. Lewis had a strong lap on the Soft compound, but we expect the fast teams to have a lot to come tomorrow, so we need to work hard to iron out some of the balance and bounce issues. A lot of work to do at night, but a relatively encouraging start to the weekend.”
NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – JULY 01: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W13 on track during practice ahead of the F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 01, 2022 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – JULY 01: George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W13 on track during practice ahead of the F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 01, 2022 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
alpine
After the crash that was first practice, Fernando Alonso was sixth fastest in FP2 with Esteban Ocon 13th as the Anglo-French team…
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