Max Verstappen quickest in FP2 at the British GP, Ferrari second and third

Max Verstappen was quickest for a second practice session in a row at Silverstone, after he was quickest in FP2 ahead of the British Grand Prix. Despite being quickest in FP1 and now FP2, he finished qualifying in second place before the sprint race. In the second free practice session he was joined in the top three by both Ferrari drivers, with Charles Leclerc ahead of Carlos Sainz.

In new and strange circumstances, FP2 came after qualifying due to the sprint race format, and meant the teams were able to have a dedicated session available to prepare for the race, with qualifying out of the way.

Despite qualifying quickest on Friday, Lewis Hamilton was down in P8, but it's hard to read into that as nobody knows fuel load, or how much he was pushing. 

His teammate Valtteri Bottas was one place lower in ninth, within one tenth of the Brit.

Esteban Ocon impressed in fourth, whilst Sergio Perez was P5, Lando Norris was P6 and Daniel Ricciardo was P7.

Pierre Gasly rounded off the top 10.

As it happened

Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin were the first two cars out on the Silverstone track, emerging as soon as the green light was shown. 

Alpine's Esteban Ocon went straight to the top of the standings with a 1:32.220, as teams started doing race runs, rather than maximising their one-lap pace. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc immediately went onto back-to-back fast laps, ensuring his car was up to scratch for the sprint race. 

Five drivers, Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, all hadn't left the pits in the first 10 minutes, by which time Yuki Tsunoda and Ocon had completed a total of seven laps.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton came out to the acclaim of the home crowd and immediately went into P2 and P3, behind the aforementioned Ocon.

Mazepin then went second quickest to further point out how easy most drivers were taking it. His time of 1:32.474 was good enough for P2 until Sergio Perez displaced him with 15 minutes of the session gone.

Max Verstappen, in a now familiar trend, was the last driver onto the track, emerging with just over 40 minutes of the session remaining, and unsurprisingly putting his RB16B straight to the top of the timing sheet, with a 1:30.428, 0.954 seconds ahead of teammate Perez.

Lots of cars were on track, but not much action commenced, with race runs the priority for everyone, and the times not changing too much during the middle of FP2.

With half of the session gone, Verstappen and Perez were clear of the field, with Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton soon moving up through the grid to P3 and P4.

The left kept on coming, and with 15 minutes to go Leclerc and Tsunoda had completed a huge 25 laps whilst Verstappen had completed the least with 14. It was sort of like watching a race without overtaking or a grid order, meaning there was very little going on in terms of entertainment.

The top 10 then didn't change for the remainder of the session, as everyone was concerned with getting in as many laps as possible.

Every driver completed at least 22 laps, with Sebastian Vettel completing the most with 33.

Alpine look quick

Despite failing to make Q3 with either driver, the Alpine team are hopeful that both Ocon and Alonso can make up places in the sprint race, and after Ocon finished FP2 in P4, he'll be confident of a good race to end his poor run of form.

Aston Martin struggle

Lap times are largely irrelevant in race run practice, but for Aston Martin, to be down in 17th and 18th is worrying. Their race pace may not be there, and they could well lose places, rather than gain them, in the sprint race.

Good fortunes for Ferrari?

Their race pace has been up and down all season, but Mattia Binotto will be pleased to have both drivers in the top three of the standings.

Standings

1. Max Verstappen (1:29.902)
2. Charles Leclerc
3. Carlos Sainz
4. Esteban Ocon
5. Sergio Perez
6. Lando Norris
7. Daniel Ricciardo
8. Lewis Hamilton
9. Valtteri Bottas
10. Pierre Gasly
11. George Russell
12. Antonio Giovinazzi
13. Fernando Alonso
14. Kimi Raikkonen
15. Nicholas Latifi
16. Yuki Tsunoda
17. Sebastian Vettel
18. Lance Stroll
19. Nikita Mazepin
20. Mick Schumacher