Brazilian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Ocon takes the lead

For this second round of tests, both Aston Martin cars inaugurated a hot and sun-drenched track, unlike Friday’s day.

Charles Leclerc also came out early in this session, because his disappointing 10th place in qualifying needs to be made up for in the end-of-day Sprint.

Logan Sargeant, driving for Williams, was one of the first to set a lap time in his quest for Super License points. The top spot initially went to Guanyu Zhou, but he was soon surpassed by Bottas (1’16″463), followed by Leclerc in the Ferrari (1’15″868).

Not everyone has fitted the same tires: Charles Leclerc is on soft tires, while poleman Kevin Magnussen has chosen mediums to start his session.

It is also interesting to note that, at the beginning of FP2, the hard tires are immediately performing very well. This is without taking into account the quantities of fuel, which are certainly variable among all the cars.

The first yellow flag was caused by Nicholas Latifi, who spun out in turn 13 known as “La Jonction” (on the old layout), after twelve minutes of the session.

As usual, the free practice 2 is a relay job. But for everyone, the focus is on knowing which tire compound to use for the sprint, considering that there won’t be any pit stops.

Leclerc’s Ferrari was already seeing significant wear marks on its left soft tires. The conditions are much hotter than yesterday, and car settings need to be readjusted.

As they went along, Kevin Magnussen, surely still galvanized by his pole position, grabbed 5th place midway through the session. The complete opposite of his teammate Mick Schumacher, who languished in a pitiful 19th position, barely better than his starting position on the grid. His days at Haas could be numbered more than ever.

Esteban Ocon took first place at the end of the first half-hour: 1’14″604, with the soft tires. The Alpine seems to be performing well at Interlagos.

The chronos freeze, the sprint prepares.

Esteban Ocon successfully secured his best time, as even the Mercedes cars, right behind him, couldn’t pass him, despite being equipped with the same tires.

Pierre Gasly, who is known to be at risk of losing his driver’s license points, held an interesting 6th position, having also set a time on soft tires. Fernando Alonso, rather discreet with his Alpine, managed to climb to 4th place, overtaking Lewis Hamilton. And with medium tires to top it off!

Less than fifteen minutes away from the FP2, the race against the clock seemed to come to a halt as the sprint race approached.

Logan Sargeant has completed his program and will be giving way to Alexander Albon for the sprint. The young American, still adjusting, finished last in the Williams session.

Mick Schumacher, on the other hand, regained some strength by climbing up to 8th place, just ahead of Kevin Magnussen. Despite the qualifying, the Haas team seems to be performing wonderfully, compared to their struggles earlier in the season.

Due to a lack of improvement, Esteban Ocon kept the best time of a session where the hierarchy is still uncertain. Max Verstappen, who has a great chance of winning, finished 5th, while the Ferraris were very discreet, not to say non-existent. Can’t wait for the season to end for the Reds.

Meet at 8:30 PM for the start of the sprint race, with Kevin Magnussen in pole position!

The ranking of Free Practice 2: