Sainz leads a few seconds free in France with dominance of Ferrari

Verstappen completed the podium and Alonso, far from the head, could only be eleventh

   MADRID, 22 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish driver Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) was the fastest this Friday in the second free practice of the French Grand Prix, which takes place at the Paul Ricard circuit, ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) second and third, respectively, and with Fernando Alonso (Alpine) eleventh.

Under the sun and heat, Ferrari confirms its good feelings from the first round on the French track, closing the day with the two best times of the day. The man from Madrid, forced to come back on Sunday after a 10-place penalty for the race, was the fastest driver with his 1:32.527, on a soft tyre, while the Monegasque, on the same compound and with which the rest of the drivers signed his best times, closely followed his partner (1:32.628).

'Mad Max' completed the podium in this second free practice round half a second off Sainz's time (1:33.077), while his teammate, Sergio Pérez, who suffered one of the starts in the first session, could only be tenth to 1.5 seconds of the best time of the round. Thus, Red Bull, who won this circuit last year, will have to improve to follow and overcome the trail of the Italian team's single-seaters, who want to take advantage of the good dynamics that began at Silverstone with Sainz's victory and continued in Austria with Leclerc's.

The Dutchman was closely followed by the Mercedes. George Russel was fourth (1:33.291), while Lewis Hamilton, who saw the first session from the box, since it was the young Nyck de Vries, Formula 2 champion in 2019, got into the Briton's car in the first session , he only closed the top 5 with a time of 1:33.527.

You have to go up to eleventh place to find Alpine's first single-seater, which, at the moment, is not up to 'its' Grand Prix. Thus, Fernando Alonso was the fastest of the French team with a time of 1:34.259, so it seems that entering the top 10 is the Asturian's realistic goal despite the improvements. His partner, Esteban Ocon, was third to last, more than two seconds behind Sainz's time (1:34.660).

The also local driver Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) finished in a good seventh place (1:33.906), thanks to the multiple innovations that the Italian team presented for the French track.