Great Britain – Free Practice 2: Valtteri Bottas continues his domination

For this second practice session, the weather at Silverstone hasn’t changed much compared to this morning, with an air temperature of 17°C and a track temperature of 30°C. The conditions remain very cool. This encourages the drivers to stay warm in their garages after their traditional installation laps.

For this session, Mercedes welcomes a very special guest, as it is Billy Monger, the unfortunate British Formula 4 driver who was the victim of a terrible accident, which required the amputation of both his legs. However, the young man has not given up on his dreams of becoming a driver and has even already returned to the wheel of a car adapted to his physical condition.

If Carlos Sainz gets a scare by spinning just after Becketts during his out lap, Kimi Räikkönen is the first to set a significant time with a 1:29.161, which would have placed him between the Mercedes in the morning session. But Lewis Hamilton was not about to let the spotlight be stolen from his home Grand Prix and immediately set a time of 1:28.780. The first Red Bull, driven by Daniel Ricciardo, was then a full second behind the leader, especially as the Briton continued by setting the lap record at 1:28.543!

At this stage of the session, it is interesting to see that almost all the drivers are on soft tires, except for Valtteri Bottas on mediums and the two McLarens on super-softs. **After half an hour of the session**, the top 10 were Hamilton, Räikkönen, Ricciardo, Vettel, Alonso, Bottas, Massa, Verstappen, Ocon, and Perez. Carlos Sainz was the only one who hadn’t set a time after his track exit.

When Valtteri Bottas decides to switch to super-softs, the clock goes crazy and the Finn takes the lead, with a margin of less than five hundredths over his teammate. The battle between the Ferrari drivers is also intense, as Kimi Räikkönen has improved his time to keep Sebastian Vettel at 128 thousandths, but the Ferraris still remain more than three-tenths behind the Silver Arrows.

It can be noted that the drivers still need to familiarize themselves with the enormous G-forces they endure in the terrible Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel sequence, as after Carlos Sainz, many drivers, including Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo, nearly made mistakes, though without consequences as unfortunate as those for the Spanish driver. He had to wait 50 minutes to complete his first timed lap after his mechanics installed a new floor and front wing on his car.

Twenty minutes before the end of the session, Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen both spin off at Becketts. While the Brazilian escapes with just major flat spots on his tires, the Finn only stops in the gravel. However, he manages to get out and return to his pit.

Felipe Massa was also investigated by the stewards for slowing down too much approaching the last corner while Max Verstappen was behind him. Both drivers nearly collided.

In the end, Valtteri Bottas once again sets the benchmark for the session, just ahead of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, while the Ferraris remain at a respectable distance from the Mercedes.

From our special correspondent in Silverstone