George Russell, a keen driver for the Mercedes team, proved to be the fastest on what was an interrupted FP2 in the Netherlands, beating Oscar Piastri from McLaren in no time. In a session that will be remembered as a disaster for the home favorite, Max Verstappen only scored the fifth position and the third and fourth positions were respectively occupied by Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.
The Homecoming and Some of the First Conflicts
Unlike the earlier session where many drivers complained of wet conditions, the second practice session was held under sunny conditions. Pierre Gasly of Alpine was the earliest to head back to the track and led the others out of the pit lane. The session started with most of the drivers going for the option of medium or hard compound tires. Verstappen got an early advantage setting the fastest lap of the session at 1m12. 131s on mediums, leading during the first part of the quali despite a challenging one causing some drivers to put more lock in at the Tarzan corner.
It was only during the later stages of the session, briefly when Lewis Hamilton was leading the timing charts with a 1m11. 833s after pitting to replace the set of medium tires. But, the session was brought to an early stop when Nico Hulkenberg let go of the Haas at Tarzan, went into a backward flip, and damaged the car’s rear end. This cost the session six minutes before it could continue with the wreckage being cleared out of the area.
Verstappen Back to the Top, McLaren Pair Impress
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Reviewing the strategy, Verstappen with a quality simulation on the softs, putting in a 1m10. 986s although he had a complaint with the stability of his car. But when Norris tried to reply with his second jump, he recorded a distance of 1m10. 970s to gain the rank of the most popular cars for some time. Piastri then outstripped his teammate with a 1m10. 77/3, before Russell jumped 1m10. Let the 702s lead the session.
Hamilton emerged the third after he reduced the gap between him and the winner to 0.112s off the pace behind his teammate, while Charles Leclerc put up ninth on his only soft tire on a circuit stint, behind Fernando Alonso. The top ten was completed by Yuki Tsunada, Kevin Magnussen, and Alex Albon.
Long-Run Focus and Ferrari’s Reliability Concerns
When moving to run longs, the teams concentrated on acquiring tire degradation information needing that due to the uncertain weather for the forthcoming days. Trouble struck Ferrari when Carlos Sainz retired on what was believed to be a gearbox problem; Leclerc consequently did the team’s sole soft-tire stint. Sergio Perez faced a torrid session lasting the entire practice session in 14th place while the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll was not impressive.
Two interesting incidents that might have resulted in unsafe pit releases involving Zhou Guanyu, Daniel Ricciardo, Alex Albon, and Lance Stroll were observed and are under consideration. Before the teams can get ahead of the unpredictable weekend, Russell posts an FP2 benchmark to set up a qualifying, with Verstappen eager to reclaim his position at the Red Bull Ring.
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