Sainz leads a Ferrari 1-2 in second free practice at the French Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz topped the second practice session at the 2022 French Grand Prix. Charlse Leclerc finished in second position, just 0.101 seconds slower than his team-mate.

Max Verstappen finished in third position ahead of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers.

The second free practice session at the Circuit Paul Ricard started with air temperatures at 30 degrees C and track temperatures at 54 degrees C.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4), the middle range of compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were back in their cars after Nyck de Vries and Robert Kubica drove in their place in the first free practice session.

Bottas led the drivers on to the track even as mechanics were working on Leclerc’s car in the garage. The two BWT Alpine F1 Team drivers, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, set the early pace as they moved to the top of the time charts.

The drivers were on the medium compound tyres and Kevin Magnussen displaced Alonso from the top spot. George Russell with a lap time of 1m34.810s went to the top of the time charts.

With fifteen minutes gone, Leclerc took over the top spot with a quick lap of 1m34.182s. Piere Gasly continued with his good form from the morning session as he slotted into third position.

Verstappen on his first flying lap on medium compound tyres went 0.010 seconds faster than Leclerc. Very narrow margins again between the two championship contenders.

Sainz who was sat in the garage as some new components of his power unit were fitted finally came out on the track with fourty minutes to go in the session. The Spaniard was on the soft compound tyres and went to the top of the time charts with a lap of 1m33.322s, 0.850 seconds faster than Verstappen.

The other drivers started their soft compound tyre runs and Lance Stroll on his first flying lap slotted into fourth position, 1.2 seconds slower than Sainz.

Leclerc and Sainz duelled for the top spot before Sainz set the fastest lap of the session with a lap time of 1m32.527s.

Verstappen could manage only third position on his flying lap, 0.550 seconds slower than Sainz. Russell and Hamilton were in fourth and fifth positions.

With fifteen minutes to go the drivers started their race simulations with heavy fuel runs. Tyre degradation is going to be crucial on race day in these very hot temperatures.

The session ended with the order of Sainz, Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell, Hamilton, Lando Norris, Gasly, Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Pérez rounding off the top ten positions.

The Scuderia Ferrari team seems to have the edge with their car having better balance and faster in the hot conditions.

2022 French Grand Prix Second Practice (FP2) Results: