2019 French GP: FP2 fastest laps

Mercedes showed in free practice 2 what we were expecting, very strong quali and race pace. But how fast are the rest of the teams looking so far? Let’s take a look at the numbers.

FP2 fastest 20 laps

Valtteri Bottas had a strong FP2 session. 5 of the fastest 20 laps done in the session were done by the Finn, and his fastest time was over 4 tenths faster than Lewis’ fastest time.

Lewis Hamilton was still faster than both Ferrari drivers. He only has one of the fastest laps of the session, which makes me believe that he was not pushing the car to the limit.

Charles Leclerc was the fastest Ferrari of the day. His 1:31.586 was 6 and a half tenths slower than the fastest time of the day, and over 2 tenths away from Hamilton’s time.

Sebastian Vettel, only managed to do the 6th fastest lap of free practice 2. He was over 7 tenths away from the fastest time, and only 4 thousands of a second faster than Bottas’ 4th fastest lap of the day.

Both McLaren drivers appear in the top 20, with Lando Norris doing 4 of the fastest laps of the day, and Carlos Sainz posting the 15th fastest lap of the session. Norris was in fact over a tenth faster than the fastest Red Bull driver, Max Verstappen. A great day for the British team.

Red Bull are not looking great in the qualifying pace department. Max was over 1 second away from the fastest time of the day, and 384 thousands of a second slower than Sebastian Vettel. Pierre Gasly keeps struggling, and was 4 tenths slower than his teammate. Right now, it seems unilkely that the Austrian team will be able to mount a challenge to the Scuderia tomorrow.

FP2 fastest 20 laps from midfield teams

McLaren dominates this analysis. 9 of the fastest 20 laps done by midfield teams were done by McLaren drivers, including the fastest 6 laps in this chart.

Alfa Romeo is looking strong in one lap pace. After a poor weekend in Canada, the Swiss team will look to bounce back and try to get a starting place in the top 10. While Kimi Raikkonen fastest time (1:32.667) was not even close to Norris’ leading time (1:31.882), he was still over a tenth faster than Kevin Magnussen (1:32.789), and more than 3 tenths faster than Daniel Ricciardo’s fastest time (1:33.020).

It is important to mention that 13 out of the 20 fastest laps done by midfield teams, were done by cars powered by Renault, with the remaining 7 laps split between Ferrari (6 laps) and Honda (1 lap)

Final remarks

The Silver Arrows are looking like the team to beat once again. Valtteri Bottas looked mighty in FP2, and will be looking to erase his atrocious Q3 session done last week in Canada.

The Scuderia looks comfortably as the second fastest team of the grid, but unless they manage to find some serious pace, it will be hard for them to take pole just as they did last week.

Red Bull looks in no man’s land. They were slower than Lando Norris, from McLaren, but should be able to turn the engine up in Q3. Max can always have one of his trademark laps, but the pace does not appear to be there for Red Bull in one of the fastest tracks of the year.

It seems like McLaren, Renault, and perhaps Haas, will be fighting for the 4th row tomorrow. Lando Norris looks particularly fast, but never count out Kevin Magnussen or Danny Ric.

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