Max Verstappen was back on top for Red Bull in Practice 2 at the British Grand Prix.
With qualifying already done on Friday, lap times were largely irrelevant as teams focused on longer runs both for the Formula 1 Qualifying Sprint race later on Saturday and of course the race on Sunday.
The big question is which tyres will the teams pick for the 17-lap dash around Silverstone, with the soft, medium and hard all being used throughout the session.
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A deciding factor will be the risk of blistering, as several drivers have suffered from issues both at the front and rear.
But Verstappen certainly offered a strong hint doing a 14-lap run on the medium compound, during which he posted his best time of 1m29.902s early on.
Mercedes meanwhile did 12-lap stints on both the soft and hard tyres, perhaps opening the door to an alternative approach.
Ferrari used all three compounds between their two drivers and were competitive with Charles Leclerc second and Carlos Sainz third.
Esteban Ocon was fourth as Alpine also appeared stronger over a stint than a single lap, just ahead of Sergio Perez in fifth.
The two McLaren drivers remained inseparable with just 0.004s between Lando Norris in sixth and Daniel Ricciardo in seventh.
Much like Friday, in the warmer afternoon temperatures, Mercedes did appear off the pace of Red Bull in eighth and ninth, albeit likely running a conservative engine mode.
Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 for AlphaTauri.
After his best qualifying so far with Williams on Friday, George Russell was a solid P11, a position he hopes to avoid come Sunday.
Further down, Yuki Tsunoda was 16th, ahead of the two Aston Martins in 17th and 18th. Finally, the two Haas cars brought up the field with Nikita Mazepin 1.6s clear of teammate Mick Schumacher.
Full results from Practice 2 can be seen below:
FP2 – DONE!
Next up… #F1Sprint ? (Lights out 15:30 UTC)#BritishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/vJuF7gEj7I
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 17, 2021
