EL2 at Paul Ricard: Hamilton does it again, Pérez loses a wheel

Already dominating in the morning at the opening of the French Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton dominated a second free session interrupted by an unusual incident caused by the Force India of Sergio Pérez.

Published on 22/06/2018 à 17:36

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EL2 at Paul Ricard: Hamilton does it again, Pérez loses a wheel

By setting a time of 1'32''539, the driver Mercedes does not improve his EL1 mark but he still relegates the Red Bulls from Daniel Ricciardo et Max Verstappen more than 7 tenths. The Bulls of Milton Keynes take in their wake the Prancing Horses of Maranello, Kimi Räikkönen ahead again Sebastian Vettel for Ferrari.

Haas will she be the 4th force on the field this weekend? The two VF-18s once again climbed into the Top 10 with Romain Grosjean 6th and Kevin Magnussen 9th. Between the two slips a Valtteri Bottas who was only able to cover 7 laps due to a water leak on the second W09 and Fernando Alonso.

On a demanding Var route for the engine, Pierre Gasly confirms the fine provisions of Toro Rosso-Honda with the 10th fastest time, ahead of the first Renault factory, that of Nico Hulkenberg, who precedes his teammate by nothing Carlos Sainz.

La McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne follows in 13th place. We then find Charles Leclerc aboard the only Sauber on the track. After the fire which damaged Marcus Ericsson's C37 in FP1, the Swede was unable to line up in the afternoon.

Brendon Hartley finished 15th. The New Zealander, one of the three winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in contention this weekend with Alonso and Hülkenberg, saw his session cut short by what appears to be an engine problem at the end of the session.

The second run on Friday was also interrupted by a red flag. While preparing to negotiate turn 7 which determines the start of the Mistral straight midway through the session, Sergio Pérez's Force India lost its left rear wheel. The Mexican returned to the paddock with the tow truck which brought back his VJM11.

Inexplicably, @SChecoPerez lost his left rear tire #FrenchGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ekVhW2fDnB

— Formula 1 (@F1) 22th June 2018

Finally, the struggle seems to continue at Williams. This is evidenced by the 17th and 18th times of Lance stroll and Sergey Sirotkin, more than 3,3 seconds behind the benchmark set by Hamilton. They are only ahead of the unfortunate Pérez and Ericsson.

Free Practice 3 will take place on Saturday from 13:00 p.m. They will be followed by the qualifications which you will be able to experience live with commentary on AUTOhebdo.fr from 16:00 p.m.