Ferrari 1-2 in second free practice shows promise ahead of qualifying

Zandvoort circuit has been likened to a few different tracks by the commentators such as a Dutch Monaco or a smaller version of Suzuka. Whatever it is being compared to, it is benefitting the Ferraris who are showing fantastic pace on the tight and windy track.

Charles Leclerc was fastest in FP2 followed by his Spanish teammate Carlos Sainz. After Hamilton went fastest in FP1, he was struck by bad luck in the second session of practice on Friday afternoon.

The Briton stopped in the middle of the track after only 5 minutes of running after his engineers indicated engine issues coming across in the data. Consequently, the session had to be red flagged with the Mercedes stranded on the edge of the track.

Mercedes’ engineers were not giving out any further details as to why the car had to be stopped which was odd because it seemed Hamilton was able to safely change gears, decelerate, and the car sounded healthy.

Later on in the session the engineers had announced it was due to an abnormality in the oil system shown on the telemetry, which could have been a possible loss of oil pressure but Mercedes did not comment further.

Continuing the session after the red flag all drivers were focussed on testing the different tyre compounds and getting the required data for their teams.

Verstappen Mentioned difficulties in finding an opening on track due to excessive traffic and it showed in his lap times. He was down by 3 tenths on the fastest Ferrari and finished down in 5th.

One final moment of interest came in the form of Nikita Mazepin spinning at turn 11, beaching his Haas in the gravel, at the half-way mark in the session and once again the red flag was shown.

That was it for the second practice. The Friday sessions have been full of red flags and action on track but the best takeaway from the first spells out on track for the drivers is that this could be a more even playing field for the midfield cars.

Not only were the Ferraris the ones to lap quickly, as Esteban Ocon showed strong form finishing third fastest in his Alpine.

One more practice to go before the exciting prospect of qualifying on Saturday afternoon local time.

Here are how the drivers finished in FP2:

_{Featured image source: twitter.com/scuderiaferrari}