FP2: Ocon tops final practice ahead of the Brazil F1 Sprint

Alpine’s French driver Esteban Ocon set the tempo ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in the second and final practice session for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix ahead of the F1 Sprint. F1Technical’s Balázs Szabó reviews on Free Practice 2 in Brazil.

Although parc ferme circumstances kicked in at the begin of yesterday’s qualifying session, drivers had been wanting to get mileage below their belt in preparation for right now’s 24-lap Sprint and tomorrow’s 71-lap Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The first minutes noticed Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull racer Sergio Perez dictate the tempo round the 4.309km observe that made its debut again in 1973.

However, Alpine despatched Esteban Ocon out on to the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on a comparatively recent set of delicate Pirelli tyres and on most likely barely decrease gas load on which the Frenchman capitalised on to set the benchmark of the session with a 1m14.604.

The Alpine driver was 0.184s quicker than second-placed Perez’s Red Bull on Pirelli’s C4 tyres, with Mercedes’ George Russell 0.312s adrift in third place on the similar compound. Fernando Alonso put his Alpine fourth ahead of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

With a late effort, Pierre Gasly ended the session in P7, beating the Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen. His staff mate Yuki Tsunoda set the twelfth quickest lap after a really troublesome Friday that noticed the Japanese driver wrestle for grip each on dry and damp circumstances.

Having been unwell on Thursday, Lando Norris turned out to be the quicker McLaren driver, ending tenth quickest along with his staff mate Daniel Ricciardo taking 14th.

Ferrari drivers appeared to wrestle with tyre put on with each Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finishing a really lengthy excessive gas stint on the delicate and the medium compound. The Monegasque ended the session in P13, two locations behind his staff mate.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel had been the most diligent drivers by finishing 42 and 43 laps respectively, however the did not impress with their velocity. The Canadian completed the session down in P17, a place ahead of his four-time German teammate.

At the backside of the FP2 timesheets was FIA F2 driver Logan Sargeant, who changed Alex Albon and accomplished 100km of operating (24 laps) to earn an additional level in his chase for a superlicence, with the American set to make his F1 debut with Williams in 2023.

The Grove primarily based outfit’s Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi notched up a complete of 33 laps on his approach to P16 in the final practice session.