Ferrari FP2 report: Carlos Sainz P1, Charles Leclerc P2

Ferrari FP2 report: Carlos Sainz P1, Charles Leclerc P2 | 2022 F1 Austrian GP. Ferrari FP2 report.

The final Austrian GP practice was under way at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, ahead of the Sprint race which takes place later this afternoon.

Reliability issues in first practice, and only 15th and 16th in qualifying – it was an awful Friday for McLaren. As a result, Lando Norris was straight out on track and posted the fastest time early on, though the 1:10.6 is around five seconds down on the quickest pace of yesterday. The Ferrari F1-75 cars were also on track, as was Max Verstappen. Carlos Sainz had the first off-moment of the day, running wide at Turn 3. The Ferrari driver had led with a 1:09.5, although Max Verstappen went three tenths faster. Lando Norris ran fourth ahead of Sergio Perez at that moment.

There was also movement in the Mercedes garage and earlier than we expected: George Russell was the first of the Merc drivers to head out on track after repairs. Fernando Alonso then went up to second ahead of Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez and the Mercedes driver, with his teammate Lewis Hamilton the only driver yet to head out on track. We then had a new leader in final practice as Verstappen was displaced by Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc, who set a 1:08.660. Ocon and Alonso were just behind Verstappen in third and fourth, with plenty of improvements as we went into the final 20 minutes of FP2.

Last weekend’s British GP winner Carlos Sainz topped the timesheets at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg with 15 minutes until the end of the final free practice session, although there was just 0.050s splitting him and Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen is just 0.168s off the pace for Red Bull, with little to split the top three – just like in yesterday’s qualifying.

With only 15 minutes left in practice, Lewis Hamilton finally left the pits in his repaired Mercedes: a decent first lap on the softs from Lewis Hamilton, who was just a tenth down on Carlos Sainz after the first two sectors. He took it easy through the last bit of the lap – including through Turn 7 where he crashed yesterday – and finished 0.7s down. That was enough for ninth.

In the last five minutes of FP2, both Ferrari F1-75 cars headed back into the pits, as has Max Verstappen. So while the final few minutes were crucial for Lewis Hamilton, the session was petering out for most. Sebastian Vettel was one of the other cars still out on track and we saw a part of his car Aston Martin car fly off at turn 10. It has not been a good weekend for the former Ferrari driver.

Pretty much all the cars were back out on track to do some practice starts ahead of this afternoon’s Sprint. Last week’s race winner Carlos Sainz topped the timesheet for the session ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc and championship leader Max Verstappen.