George Russell finished the fastest after Friday’s second free practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix, beating Lando Norris by a narrow margin as McLaren suffered a surprising lack of speed.
Russell edged out Norris by only 28 milliseconds, while the English star’s Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli slotted into third amid two big crashes.
However, the story of FP2 was McLaren and in particular Oscar Piastri who struggled for pace.
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“You have to say, McLaren do seem to be on the back foot today, particularly with one-lap pace,” Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok said.
“This is a difficult track to overtake on, so actually qualifying is super important.”
Piastri and Norris currently sit first and second in the World Drivers’ Championship, but still the dominant team introduced a number of upgrades that appeared to have teething issues.
“McLaren had three upgrades. A new front suspension and two bits on the front wing,” Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz said.
“They took that new front wing off after first practice as it was for test purposes.
“The new front suspension is being used now by Lando only, then a decision will be made after FP2.”
Earlier, in FP1, Charles Leclerc smashed the front corner of his SF-25, with the Ferrari gun unable to return in FP2 after his incident on turn three.
Then in FP2, Lance Stroll broke his front left wheel after coming in contact with the wall in his return from a wrist injury.
Russell fastest for Mercedes ahead of Norris in second practice
As four-time champion Max Verstappen struggled to reprise his pace-setting form for Red Bull in the opening practice session, Russell clocked a best lap in one minute and 12.123 seconds to beat Norris by 0.028 seconds.
Carlos Sainz was seventh for Williams ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the sole Ferrari, after team-mate Charles Leclerc had crashed and damaged his car in first practice.
Verstappen was ninth ahead of the two Red Bulls of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar.
For Russell, who started on pole last year, it was an encouraging session on a bright and clear day at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where Ferrari are revered. It was the first time Russell had been fastest in a practice this year.
The action began with a range of tyres chosen for use after the earlier session in which Leclerc had crashed and badly damaged the survival cell in his Ferrari. That required prolonged work to replace it and he was ruled out of FP2.
– Pressure on Ferrari –
All this heaped more pressure on Ferrari and Hamilton as media speculation swirled and team boss Fred Vasseur hit back at “stupid” stories that threatened to undermine their season.
Russell set an early quickest lap before Stroll, the local hero, hit the wall at Turn Seven and damaged his Aston Martin’s front wheels. His race engineer Gary Gannon asked him to stop and park, his session over.
In improving conditions, Norris on mediums found his groove to go top before Albon and then Russell took control, the Mercedes man eight-tenths faster than his pole lap last year.
Verstappen expressed his frustration at his Red Bull’s handling. “The car’s jumping crazy at the rear,” he said, a complaint similar to one from Hamilton who reported “the rear keeps kicking out” asking his engineer for help.
Back on one of his favourite circuits, where he shares a record of seven wins with Michael Schumacher, Hamilton was showing pace to rise to second behind the ever-improving Russell, on mediums.
Both McLarens soon climbed into the top ten after taking a methodical approach to the use of their new upgrades, Norris rising to second, but Mercedes with Russell on top and Antonelli third, appeared to be strongest with 15 minutes remaining.
As the teams began race-trim runs, there were 17 drivers separated by one second, ahead of Franco Colapinto’s Alpine – clear evidence that a closely-fought contest is in prospect for Saturday’s critical qualifying.