CANADIAN GP – Verstappen fastest on hypersoft as Ricciardo has engine difficulties
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fastest in the second practice session ahead of this weekends Canadian Grand Prix. The Dutchman set his fastest time on the hypersofts just after the halfway point, knocking Kimi Raikkonen off the top spot.
Verstappen set about answering his critics by going fastest, while his teammate Daniel Ricciardo was third. However, it wasn’t plain sailing for the Australian after Red Bull detected an issue around his engine but the Australian returned to action for the final twenty minutes to set the third-quickest lap time.
Mercedes Lewis Hamilton was half a second down in fourth place. However, the six-time race winner in Montreal didn’t set his fastest time on the fastest hypersoft tyre, his time was on the slowest compound the supersofts.
Mercedes have brought the least amount of the hypersoft tyres, they are looking not to use the fast tyre on race day because of the high wear rate. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was fourth fastest, it was quiet for the German after spending most of the session in the garage.
Vettel was seven tenths off the pace, despite him running the same compound of tyres. Haas’s Romain Grosjean was sixth fastest, the Frenchman was narrowly faster than both the Force India’s of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez.
However a groundhog hit the front wing causing damage to Grosjean’s front wing of his car. Grosjean’s teammate was thirteenth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.
McLaren’s Fernando Alonso wasn’t far off the pace either after he ran the ultrasoft tyres. This weekend the team has brought upgrades to the car to tie in with the engine upgrades from Renault.
For the works Renault team, it was a difficult afternoon after Carlos Sainz crashed into the wall. The Spaniard spun his car and put the rear into the wall. He attempted to return to the pits, however the damaged car spread debris over the track and brought the red flags out.
The second incident came from Stoffel Vandoorne, who broke his front suspension of his McLaren car as he pushed to match the top-ten time of team-mate Fernando Alonso.
Alonso was narrowly faster than the Sauber of Charles Leclerc, the Monacan locked up on his fastest lap. Brendon Hartley was twelfth fastest, the New Zealander one second and six tenths off the pace.
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