Esteban Ocon was fastest in second practice for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, the Frenchman set a 14.604 on the medium tyres to put himself ahead of Sergio Perez by just over a tenth and three quarters. The session saw most of the drivers focus on the sprint and Sunday’s Grand Prix.
George Russell put his Mercedes third fastest nearly a tenth and a quarter behind Perez as the soft tyre looked to be the favourite for this afternoon’s twenty-four-lap sprint, which will set the grid for the race tomorrow. Mercedes will be hoping that the Englishman retains third as this weekend they have proved to be competitive on long run pace.
Fernando Alonso put his Alpine fourth nearly a tenth and a half behind Russell, with Max Verstappen fifth. The session was very much about the long run pace with the soft tyres being the favourite for this afternoon’s sprint and maybe for the opening stint of the race on Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton went sixth half a second ahead of Pierre Gasly, with the Alpha Tauri driver the only other driver than Ocon in the top ten to set their fastest times on the medium tyre. Mick Schumacher continued to show that Haas have some pace this weekend going eighth a tenth and a half faster than teammate Kevin Magnussen, who starts the sprint from pole.
Lando Norris rounded out the top ten three hundredths behind the Dane, and ahead of Carlos Sainz by five-thousandths of a second. Yuki Tsunoda spilt the two Ferrari’s after going three thousandths faster than Charles Leclerc, suggesting that the two Italian teams could be matched on race pace for the remainder of the weekend.
Sainz will take a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow’s Grand Prix after taking his sixth internal combustion engine of the season
Daniel Ricciardo put his McLaren fourteenth going six hundredths faster than Valtteri Bottas and Nicolas Latifi. However the Australian struggled on all compounds of tyres with oversteer and was over a tenth behind Leclerc. While Latifi brought out the yellow flag after going wide at Juncao.
Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin seventeenth going nearly a tenth and a half faster than his teammate Sebastian Vettel. Guanyu Zhou rounded out the regular drivers in nineteen, while Logan Sergeant spent the session focused on getting enough mileage to qualify for a super licence.
Related
- SAO PAULO GP – Kevin Magnussen Takes A Surprise Pole Position Ahead Of Max Verstappen By Two-Tenths In Changeable Conditions
- SAO PAULO GP – Sergio Perez Fastest In FP1 As Narrow Margins Set To Dominate Qualifying,0 Charles Leclerc Four Thousandths Off
- F1 Today – Sao Paulo Prixview – 10/11/2022
- PRIXVIEW – Sao Paulo Grand Prix
