Max ends Friday at Silverstone in P7: 'Still some work to do'

Published on 05 July 2024 by Misha van der Kroon

Max Verstappen finished the second free practice session of the British Grand Prix in seventh place. After being the fastest driver on the medium tyres in FP1, this session was all about long runs. Lando Norris was the fastest overall in FP2, which had a quiet ending due to the rain. Teammate Oscar Piastri followed in second place, three tenths behind. Sergio Perez clocked the third fastest time, and Nico Hulkenberg and Charles Leclerc completed the top five at Silverstone.

During FP2, Max had a moment in Chapel, and says this about it after the session: “It was ok, just a little slide, so I aborted the lap there. On the softs it did not go so well. In FP2, the medium looked a bit better, so we have a bit of work to do. We tried a few things on the car, from FP1 to FP2. We have to analyse what to do better for tomorrow. That will give us a direction for tomorrow. I think it will rain a bit, so we have to take all of that into account.”

It is a bit warmer at the start of the second free practice session: it is 18 degrees with a track temperature of 29 degrees. Most of the teams send their drivers out as soon as the lights go green, but Perez and Verstappen wait a little longer. After a few minutes, Max takes to the track and clocks a 1:27.831 in his first flying lap. He is more than three-tenths ahead of Lando Norris in P2. Shortly after, Sainz, Hamilton and Leclerc improve their times, pushing Norris back to fifth place. Fifteen minutes into the session, Verstappen switches to the soft compound. He sets a time of 1:27.233, five-tenths faster than his previous time and more than eight-tenths faster than Leclerc on the mediums.

Towards the halfway point of the training, more drivers follow Verstappen’s lead and switch to the softs. Verstappen is falls back to sixth place. The top five looks as follows: Norris, Piastri, Hulkenberg, Leclerc and Hamilton. Norris has set a 1:26.549, more than six tenths faster than Max.

Verstappen has to abort his lap, because he slides off track after an oversteer moment. Not much later he returns to the pits. On the radar, we see the rain approaching the circuit, but for the time being it remains dry at Silverstone. When Max takes to the track again, he starts his long runs on the medium tyres. With just ten minutes to go, drivers are informed that rain is expected. Norris is told that it could get bad pretty quickly, and that the team is not going to take any risks.

With seven minutes on the clock, we see the first drops of rain falling. After that, there are no improvements of times. Most of the drivers return to their garages and the teams call it a day. This means that Max ends the Friday at Silverstone in seventh place. Norris is the fastest man of the second free practice, followed by teammate Piastri. Perez, Hulkenberg and Leclerc complete the top five.

Contest British GP: win a by Max Verstappen signed Verstappen.com Racing cap!

Results second free practice Great Britain: