FP2: George Russell dominated second practice at Montreal, Leclerc sits out FP2 due to damage to his SF-25
Mercedes driver George Russell set the benchmark in the second practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix while Ferrari racer Charles Leclerc was forced to sit out the second one-hour session due to heavy damage to his SF-25.
George Russell completed a different run plan in the second practice session, running Pirelli's soft tyres at the beginning before performing his qualifying simulation on the yellow-walled mediums.
The British driver was quickest come the end of the first day of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, stopping the clocks in 1m12.123s in the second free practice session, a time just 28 thousandths of a second quicker than Lando Norris.
It was a strong showing for Mercedes as Andrea Kimi Antonelli was third in 1m12.411s. It’s worth noting that the top seven drivers on the time sheet were all driving cars fitted with the Mercedes power unit.
Charles Leclerc and Lance Stroll failed to set a time in FP2: the Ferrari driver took no part in proceedings, as his car was damaged in FP1, while the local driver clipped the wall at the exit to turn 7, breaking the front left suspension.
Having collected his first points at his home race in Barcelona, Fernando Alonso displayed an encouraging performance in FP2. The Spaniard found himself in fifth as the sole Aston Martin as his team-mate Lance Stroll crashed out in the early part of second one-hour session.
Champion leader Oscar Piastri was languishing down in the order for the majority of the session, but he managed to pick up his pace later on to end up sixth fastest.
On the back of a difficult Spanish Grand Prix, Williams’ Carlos Sainz looked much more comfortable in his car, taking seventh, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen while Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson rounded out the top 10.
Isack Hadjar just missed out in P11, followed by the lead Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the two Kick Saubers of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg. Yuki Tsunoda struggled to find time and was forced to settle for P15.
Running a special livery this weekend on the occasion of their 200th F1 race, Haas also experienced a lack of pace with Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon in 16th and 17th respectively, ahead of Franco Colapinto.
