The second practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix was extended by 30 minutes after technical issues with the circuit’s CCTV system caused the opening session to be cut short. With limited laps completed in FP1, teams had a lot of ground to cover in FP2 to prepare for Saturday’s qualifying.
Hamilton and Ferrari Dominate
Charles Leclerc was the first to set a benchmark with a time of 1m16.564s on medium tyres, but he was soon overtaken by Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas. Max Verstappen posted a time of 1m15.333s despite complaints about his Red Bull’s downshifts, and later improved to a time of 1m14.726s.
Leclerc managed to regain the top spot with a time of 1m14.576s, but his teammate Carlos Sainz was even faster with a time of 1m14.196s. Leclerc then improved by a tenth, but the session was interrupted by a red flag caused by Nico Hulkenberg’s smoking car. Sainz resumed where he left off and took the top spot with a time of 1m13.844s, with Verstappen splitting the Ferraris just before the red flag.
Weather and Track Conditions
With rain clouds looming, teams were eager to gather more data before the session was once again paused due to Esteban Ocon’s halted Alpine. The threat of rain meant that many teams opted to conduct their longer runs in the remaining 40 minutes. However, Alonso was the only driver to set a best opening sector on a lap with soft tyres, but he couldn’t carry that pace through the final sector and finished in fifth place.
As the session drew to a close, radio messages indicated that rain was expected in 10 minutes. George Russell set the fastest time with a 1m13.745s, but was quickly overtaken by Hamilton with a time of 1m13.718s.
The wind picked up and falling track temperatures led to more mistakes from the drivers, with Sainz and Alex Albon both having off-moments in the final 15 minutes. Slippery conditions at Turn 4 meant that drivers were able to switch to intermediate tyres as the circuit was declared wet by race control, despite the lack of precipitation.
Rain and Standing Water
With five minutes remaining, a sudden downpour hit the track at the hairpin, but the southern part of the circuit remained largely dry. Lando Norris was the first to try out intermediates, but eventually parked up in the pitlane. Alonso and Lance Stroll took exploratory laps on inters, followed by other teams, but the circuit had become significantly wetter, making it difficult for the inters to deal with the standing water that had quickly suffused the track.
Hamilton’s time remained the fastest, followed by Russell and Sainz. Alonso split the Ferraris in fourth place, with Verstappen in sixth and Bottas in seventh. Sergio Perez and Stroll were eighth and ninth fastest, with Pierre Gasly and Oscar Piastri rounding out the top 11.
Despite the technical issues and changing weather conditions, Hamilton and Ferrari dominated the second practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix. However, the unpredictability of the weather means that Saturday’s qualifying session could produce some surprises.
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