07/07/2023
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's second practice session the air temperature is 27 degrees C, while the track temperature is 42 degrees. It remains bright and sunny.
On the other hand, it is quite windy which is bad news for Ferrari in terms of balance.
In terms of upgrades, Red Bull has a new Front Corner, Mercedes a new Front Wing and Front Wing Endplate, Alpine a new Front Wing and McLaren a new Front Wing,
Nose, Rear Corner and Rear Suspension.
At Alfa Romeo there's a new Floor, Floor Fences, Diffuser, Rear Corner and Rear Suspension, while Aston Martin brings a new Front Wing and Rear Corner.
Haas has a new Front Suspension, Front Corner and Beam Wing, while AlphaTauri has an updated Floor, Floor Fences, Floor Edge, Diffuser, Coke/Engine Cover, Rear Suspension, Rear Wing and Beam Wing and Williams a new Front Wing and Rear Wing.
Ferrari is the only team with no upgrades.
Max Verstappen headed a Red Bull 1-2 earlier, however the morning wasn't without its problems for the Dutchman who constantly complained of a lack of grip.
Alex Albon finished a very impressive third, ahead of Alonso, Leclerc and Ocon.
While Hamilton and Russell finished the morning 14th and 14th, Andrew Shovlin was keen to make clear that other than not running on the softs, the German team had focussed on its own test programme as opposed to trying for outright pace.
On the other hand, the Haas pair struggled pretty much as expected, finishing 19th and 20th, while a hydraulics leak meant little running for Piastri whi finally got the McLaren upgrade package.
As a result of a delay to the F3 session, which subsequently impacted F2 qualifying, the start of this session is delayed.
Finally the lights go green and de Vries leads the way, followed by Alonso, Ocon, Bottas and Tsunoda. As was the case in FP1 it's a mixture of medium and hards.
DE Vries gets proceedings underway with a 31.091 but this is soon beaten by Gasly (30.517) and then Ocon (30.193).
Piastri raises the bar with a 30.027 as Sainz goes third and Russell fifth.
However, Verstappen is on track and in no time at all is stopping the clock at 29.550.
As Perez goes second, Hamilton runs wide at Vale.
Alonso goes sixth as the cameras cut to the Ferrari garage where this is frenzied activity on Leclerc's car, the Monegasque the only driver yet to appear. Ferrari confirms that it's an electrical issue.
"I need to box, it's broken," says Zhou, referring to his steering wheel.
As Sainz runs wide, there's a feeling that the Spaniard, like Hamilton before him,. Was affected by the wind.
Piastri improves to second with a 29.811 as Hamilton goes third (30.005).
Perez goes quickest (29.451) and Gasly third (29.700).
A 29.083 sees Sainz go quickest by 0.368, as work continues on his teammate's car.
Alonso is the first to make the switch to softs, the Spaniard heading out on to an almost clear track.
As he posts a PB in S1, teammate Stroll heads out on the red-banded rubber.
Alonso posts a purple in S2, finally crossing the line at 29.134, 0.051s off Sainz' best.
As Stroll begins his first flying lap on softs, Sainz, and the Bulls make the switch to the C3s. Stroll subsequently posts a 28.866.
As one would expect, Verstappen raises the bar with a 28.078. While Perez goes second (28.342), he is subsequently demoted by Albon who crosses the line at 28.296.
Sargeant goes fourth (28.766), but is demoted when Sainz goes second with a 28.100.
"Slow down, slow down, slow down," Alonso is told, "we've got a problem with the front left, we think it's debris."
"My mirror is broken," reports Stroll, "I need to box, it just snapped," he adds."
Hamilton improves to eleventh with a 29.283 as teammate Russell seeks to improve on 16th. Watching from the Mercedes garage, Anthony Hamilton looks less than impressed.
It appears that Ferrari has given up on Leclerc's car as the SF23 sits forlornly with not a mechanic in sight.
A trip over the kerbs raises doubts over Hamilton's floor as the Briton continues to struggle.
Having improvers to seventh, Hulkenberg makes the switch back to hards, as does Stroll.
With 20 minutes remaining, attention switches to Sunday afternoon as the race sims get underway.
"A stone has hit my finger," says Stroll, "it's pretty bad but I'll keep going."
Now, before you say a word, it was stone that brought Helmut Marko's racing career to an end.
"We're still a long way from the front of the pack at this stage of the weekend," admits Mercedes. "Lewis and George both reporting low grip. Clearly more work to do to find the right working window with this soft compound."
"I've got no grip, sliding all over the place," confirms Russell.
"Hamilton's pace on the softs is 33.6 and 34.3," Sainz is told. "That's fast," he replies.
As the clock counts down, there are 19 drivers on track running all three compounds.
"Box slow in," de Vries is told, "we've just picked up a puncture from debris."
The session ends. Verstappen is quickest, ahead of Sainz, Albon, Perez, Sargeant, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Piastri and Alonso.
Zhou is eleventh, ahead of Russell, Ocon, Norris, Hamilton, Bottas, Magnussen, Tsunoda, de Vries and Leclerc.
Check out our Friday gallery from Silverstone here.