France – Free Practice 2: Hamilton confirms, Pérez on three wheels
Lewis Hamilton once again sets the fastest time in this second free practice session. He is ahead of the two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. Valtteri Bottas, in the other Mercedes, was hampered by a water leak issue on his engine, while the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen remain behind.
This morning, Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in the first free practice session of this French Grand Prix, putting Mercedes in a favorite position that he nonetheless did not want to assume.
After his accident this morning, Marcus Ericsson will not take part in the session as his Sauber was too damaged by the fire following his contact with the barrier.
This afternoon, the second session begins with practice starts at the end of the pit lane for both Haas drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean. As the day goes on, the sun gradually heats the track, which exceeds 50 degrees at the start of this session.
We saw many drivers make mistakes this morning, testing the limits of a track that allows for a lot of variation. This afternoon, Kimi Räikkönen was the first to lose control of his Ferrari in the initial S-curves of the circuit. However, this did not stop the Finn from placing his name at the top of the leaderboard with a time of 1.35.165 on Soft tires, just ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel who was on Super softs.
👃CAM
Kimi pointing the wrong way after another spin
FP2 #FrenchGP 🇫🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Bg5eblKzTU
— Formula 1 (@F1) 22 juin /f1/actualite/22777-france-essais-libres-1-hamilton-assure-ericsson-en-feu-.html
Max Verstappen uses the full width of the track to achieve the best time with his Red Bull, which is also equipped with Super Soft tires. But the Mercedes, like this morning, quickly take control again and Valtteri Bottas, then Lewis Hamilton, set the fastest time. The Briton clocks in at 1:33.915 ahead of the Finn at 1:34.156. We are still far from the times set this morning in this first half hour.
Verstappen, Vettel, Räikkönen, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Hülkenberg, Ocon, Grosjean complete the Top 10 just ahead of the other French driver, Pierre Gasly in his Toro Rosso.
FP2 (30/90 MINS): @MercedesAMGF1 in charge, so far #FrenchGP 🇫🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/P8MmrFJ49Y
— Formula 1 (@F1) 22 juin /f1/actualite/22777-france-essais-libres-1-hamilton-assure-ericsson-en-feu-.html
The drivers are now putting on the softest tires in Pirelli’s range brought this weekend, namely the Ultra Softs. Brendon Hartley in his Toro Rosso and Charles Leclerc in the Sauber are the first to start in qualifying mode. The New Zealander immediately climbs to 9th position.
Daniel Ricciardo is the first of the favorites to set a significant time on Ultra soft tires. He takes the first place with a time of 1:33.243. A few seconds later, red flags are waved by the track marshals: Sergio Pérez’s Force India has lost its left rear wheel while climbing a curb. The car is stranded in the middle of the track while its wheel continues to roll away on the circuit.
Perez lost a wheel!!! Red flag 🚩 [#FP2](https://twitter.com/hashtag/FP2?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [#FrenchGP](https://twitter.com/hashtag/FrenchGP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [#F1](https://twitter.com/hashtag/F1?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [#AuRupteur](https://twitter.com/hashtag/AuRupteur?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/wzV61rNSbD](https://t.co/wzV61rNSbD)— Au Rupteur (@AuRupteur) [22 juin](https://twitter.com/AuRupteur/status/1010171854567428096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
The session resumes for a little over 30 minutes. Lewis Hamilton wastes no time in setting the fastest time again at 1:32.539, also on Ultra soft tires. Pierre Gasly has climbed to an impressive 8th place, ahead of the two Renaults of Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz.
The two Red Bulls take advantage of the problems encountered by Valtteri Bottas, stuck at his pit due to a water leak issue, to position themselves in 2nd and 3rd places. The Ferraris are lagging today and seem to not appreciate the track’s heat. Räikkönen and Vettel are about a second off the best time of the Mercedes.
Among the disappointments are the Force Indias of Ocon and Perez, despite the Mexican’s misadventure, struggling to break into the Top 10, much like the Williams, which cling to the last places in the standings. The situation is not improving for the British team, and Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin aren’t smiling much at the start of this weekend.
10 minutes before the end of the session, Brandon Hartley stops his Toro Rosso at the side of the track, causing a virtual safety car. There’s some sputtering at the rear of the blue single-seater, and the Honda engine seems to be the cause of this impromptu stop.
No driver managed to beat Lewis Hamilton’s time in the final minutes, even though, to everyone’s surprise, Sergio Pérez was able to get back on the track after losing his wheel in the first half of the session, and Fernando Alonso finally showed up in his McLaren by clocking the 8th fastest time… before spinning out. The session ended under a yellow flag!
The complete ranking of FP2:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="fr"<p lang="en" dir="ltr">FP2 CLASSIFICATION: Hamilton lays down a marker <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FrenchGP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FrenchGP</a> 🇫🇷 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/F1?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#F1</a> <a href="https://t.co/XyGBh9JMXz">pic.twitter.com/XyGBh9JMXz</a></p>— Formula 1 (@F1) <a href="https://twitter.com/F1/status/1010184858025512962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">22 juin /f1/actualite/22777-france-essais-libres-1-hamilton-assure-ericsson-en-feu-.html</a></blockquote>
From our special correspondent in Le Castellet
