Charles Leclerc pips Sergio Perez to the fastest time of FP2

Charles Leclerc has topped the timing charts of FP2, finishing ahead of the Red Bull duo of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen in second and third. Run-offs were a key feature in the session, with teams getting used to the circuit in the new cars, no risks were taken in the final hour of driving on Friday.

Ferrari and Red Bull battle, whilst Mercedes struggle

Leclerc pipped Perez to the top spot of FP2, with one of his final flying laps of the session, before switching to his race pace programme to finish the hour. Verstappen had to sit in the garage for the first 20 minutes due to his engineers trying to work on his rear wing, which was seen flapping in FP1, but when he came onto the circuit he was able to make the most of his time, finishing only 0.356 seconds behind Leclerc, despite the lower amount of laps being completed. As for Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard was only able to best a fifth-place finish.

George Russell was the best finisher for Mercedes, claiming the seventh spot, but it was clear that Lewis Hamilton struggled with porpoising, as the seven-time World Champion finished in 12th.

Alonso and AlphaTauri confidently ahead of the midfield in FP2

Fernando Alonso beat out his compatriot Sainz to finish fourth in FP2, and the strongest of 'the best of the rest.' The Alpine driver managed to find pace throughout the session, as he consistently sat in the top 10 and found lap times to compete with the top of the midfield! As for his teammate Esteban Ocon, it was a harder but not weak session. The Frenchman finished in ninth, over four-hundredths of a second behind his teammate.

AlphaTauri seemed to be the strongest and most confident team in the hour-long session with both Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda continuously running in the top 10. Gasly ended up finishing sixth, whilst Tsunoda claimed the eighth spot, but it could have easily been a stronger finish for the duo.

McLaren and Aston Martin had a very quiet session with Lando Norris being the strongest finisher of the final two midfield teams, in 10th place. Sebastian Vettel was one place behind in 11th and Lance Stroll beat Daniel Ricciardo to 13th.

Haas, Williams and Alfa Romeo nowhere to be seen

It was one of the quietest sessions ever for Haas, Williams and Alfa Romeo, as they held all six of the final spots on the timings charts. Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou were running in the top 10 at the start of the hour, but soon fell down the chart and couldn't find the pace to move ahead of the midfield teams.

As for Haas and Williams, the only news to come out of FP2 was from Alex Albon. The Thai driver hit the wall at Turn 17, causing damage that couldn't be repaired in time to come back on track. Kevin Magnussen finished in 17th, Albon in 18th, Mick Schumacher in 19th and Nicholas Latifi finished almost four seconds off Leclerc in 20th place.