Johnny Herbert believes Ferrari have the edge over Red Bull at Paul Ricard | 2022 F1 French GP. Herbert: Ferrari have the edge over Red Bull.

Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz led his Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc at the top of the times on Friday as the Italian side dominated second practice for the French Grand Prix ahead of world championship leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

The Ferrari duo swapped fastest laps in a closely-contested session in bright sunshine at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, with the Spaniard making light of the prospect of a grid penalty for Sunday’s French Grand Prix.

Following the conclusion of the second free practice session at the Circuit Paul Ricard, British former racing driver and current television announcer for Sky Sports F1 Johnny Herbert felt that, as it stands, Ferrari are the team to beat in France.

He said: “Ferrari’s car has very good balance and it is also very soft on it’s tyres. When you have tyre degradation like you do at the circuit here in France, where it’s very high, that’s where the Ferrari is probably going to gain that little bit more. The Ferrari just has a very soft rotation and a much, much softer way of loading up the tyre.” – he explained.

Johnny Herbert expected more from Mercedes
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished fourth and fifth on the timesheet in FP2, with the former +0.764 off the pace of Carlos Sainz’s leading lap and Lewis Hamilton +0.990 off.

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Sky Sports F1 Johnny Herbert gives his perspective on Mercedes’ performance in the second practice session:

“I was expecting a little bit more in that session,” Herbert notes. “It didn’t seem to happen again. The car on track doesn’t look like a handful in many respects, but it just doesn’t have that raw pace. Maybe that’s down to the tyres, the way that the car is rotating and not rotating in a way that allow sit to fire itself out of the corners.” – he concluded.