Emilia-Romagna – EL2: George Russell best time in a dry session

Lance stroll (Aston Martin) was the first on track in this important session, because it was the first time that the cars ran in the dry this weekend at Imola. The drivers took the opportunity to explore the different tires available to them. THE Red Bull by Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen quickly moved into the first two positions on soft tires. The Mexican set the first reference time in 1:19.815, which he then improved to 1:19.790. In a session mainly dedicated to long race relays, the Mercedes showed themselves at ease and George Russell even took the best time in 1:19.457. Lewis Hamilton was in third place, half a second behind his teammate.

At McLaren, Lando Norris was quickly recalled by his team because of a brake problem. THE Ferrari remained behind during this hour of driving and did not even appear in the top 10 mid-session, unlike the Alpha Tauri, Aston Martins or even Alex Albon (Williams). Times did not fall for the next few minutes, as the teams continued their preparations for the two races to come. Charles Leclerc (Ferrrari) finally appeared in second place a quarter of an hour from the end, 0.283 seconds behind Russell. Pérez returned to this position with a medium gear, just 0.081 seconds behind the Briton.

Russell, Pérez and Leclerc therefore established the podium of these Free Practice 2. Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso (Alpine), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Max Verstappen, Yuki tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) and Guanyu-Zhou (Alfa Romeo) completed the top 10.

Bad news for Valtteri Bottas, whose dismantled Alfa Romeo remained in the garage throughout the session. Daniel Ricciardo also found himself stuck in his box with a McLaren around which the mechanics worked for an hour. For the two teams, it is a race against time which is launched to see the two men on the starting grid for the sprint, scheduled for 16:30 p.m. this Saturday and to follow in live text on AUTOhebdo.fr.

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