Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2022

Verstappen ends Friday fastest ahead of Ferrari pair in Canada

2022 Canadian Grand Prix second practice

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Max Verstappen ended Friday fastest of all after the second practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix.

After topping the times sheets in the earlier session, Verstappen improved on his own best time to set the overall quickest lap of a 1’14.127, just under a tenth of a second faster than Charles Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz Jnr was third-fastest, ahead of a quintet of different cars: Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso’s Alpine, Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri, George Russell’s Mercedes and Lando Norris in the first of the two McLarens.

The session had barely begun when Kevin Magnussen had to take immediate avoiding action when Aston Martin released Vettel straight in front him in the pit lane. The incident will be investigated by the stewards after the session.

After going fastest of all in the earlier session, Verstappen immediately went even faster right out of the pits, setting a 1’14.792 on the medium compound tyres. Leclerc was almost half a second off the Red Bull in second, before Alonso moved ahead of the Ferrari on the soft tyres to go behind Verstappen.

Sergio Perez appeared to be struggling with his braking points, locking up into the turn ten hairpin before doing the same into turn one, running off track and missing the first two corners. Pierre Gasly also misjudged his braking for the final chicane, and missed the corner, but failed to stay to the left of the bollard on the escape road as per the race directors’ instructions. He will also be investigated after the session.

Valtteri Bottas fell into anti-stall and was called into the pit lane to abandon a run. He was soon sent back out, but radioed that the problem remained and made his way back to the garage.

The Virtual Safety Car was briefly deployed due to a discarded drinks can rolling along the circuit at the hairpin. A local marshal soon collected the debris – to the cheers of the Canadian fans in attendance – and the session was soon resumed.

When it did, Verstappen improved on his own fastest time by four tenths of a second to a 1’14.1 on the soft tyres. Leclerc also went quicker on the soft tyres, going within a tenth of a second of the Red Bull.

A miscommunication between Alfa Romeo and Zhou Guanyu led to Zhou holding up Daniel Ricciardo on the way into turn three, causing the McLaren driver to abandon his flying effort. Vettel became the next driver to overshoot the chicane and, like Gasly, failed to rejoin the circuit correctly, also earning him a post-session trip to the stewards.

With ten minutes remaining in the session, all 20 cars bar Bottas’s Alfa Romeo were on circuit, with everyone focusing on long runs. Lewis Hamilton complained his Mercedes was “undriveable”, giving up on a run after oversteering off the circuit at turn nine.

There were no major improvements in the final minutes of the race, leaving Verstappen fastest of all with his earlier best time of a 1’14.127. The two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz ended the day second and third, respectively, just under a tenth and two tenths slower than the championship leader.

Vettel put Aston Martin fourth fastest, just ahead of Alonso and Gasly’s AlphaTauri. Russell was the quickest of the Mercedes in seventh, ahead of the McLaren pair of Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten for Alpine.

2022 Canadian Grand Prix second practice result

PositionNumberDriverTeamModelTimeGapLaps
11Max VerstappenRed BullRB181’14.12733
216Charles LeclercFerrariF1-751’14.2080.08132
355Carlos Sainz JnrFerrariF1-751’14.3520.22532
45Sebastian VettelAston Martin-MercedesAMR221’14.4420.31535
514Fernando AlonsoAlpine-RenaultA5221’14.5430.41624
610Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Red BullAT031’14.8790.75234
763George RussellMercedesW131’14.9710.84431
84Lando NorrisMcLaren-MercedesMCL361’14.9870.86030
93Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-MercedesMCL361’15.0330.90631
1031Esteban OconAlpine-RenaultA5221’15.1190.99232
1111Sergio PerezRed BullRB181’15.1671.04029
1218Lance StrollAston Martin-MercedesAMR221’15.3961.26934
1344Lewis HamiltonMercedesW131’15.4211.29425
1420Kevin MagnussenHaas-FerrariVF-221’15.4991.37234
1547Mick SchumacherHaas-FerrariVF-221’15.5161.38935
1624Zhou GuanyuAlfa Romeo-FerrariC421’15.5261.39931
1722Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Red BullAT031’15.5671.44037
1823Alexander AlbonWilliams-MercedesFW441’16.1712.04430
196Nicholas LatifiWilliams-MercedesFW441’16.5092.38227
2077Valtteri BottasAlfa Romeo-FerrariC42No time3

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2022 Canadian Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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2 comments on “Verstappen ends Friday fastest ahead of Ferrari pair in Canada”

  1. Mighty turn around for Aston Martin and Sebastian. With Leclerc’s penalty, i sense an outside chance for a top 5 finish for either Sebastian or Fernando with Max, Sergio, George and Carlos taking the top 4 easily.

    1. How is leclerc not expected to recover to 4th at minimum?

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