During the practice session, the Aston Martin driver was mostly leading the pack, even though there were some brief breaks from other drivers. He managed to get better grip on the track, even though it was lightly raining at the start.
After the heavy rain in the first practice session and with more rain expected, most drivers wanted to use soft tires early in this session.
Rain started falling lightly as the session began, but it didn’t stop drivers from improving their times. Pierre Gasly set the first fast time, but there was a lot of talk on the radios about the weather.
Alonso was soon at the top, but his teammate Lance Stroll briefly overtook him. Despite reports of heavier rain, Alonso kept getting faster.
He set faster times, first with a 1m17.835s, then a 1m16.668s. But then Leclerc became the fastest with a time of 1m16.556s. Earlier, Leclerc had to pit because Ferrari had sent him out on the wrong tires.
Even though rain was expected, it held off, letting Alonso keep his top spot with a time of 1m15.810s. The rain didn’t disrupt the session much.
When the soft tire runs ended, it started raining more heavily, causing a long break. If anyone wanted to go out in the last 20 minutes, they needed intermediate tires, but it was unlikely they could beat Alonso’s time.
Russell was second fastest, with Stroll in third. Leclerc was fourth, waiting for a decision about his earlier tire mix-up.
Ricciardo and Magnussen did well in the wet conditions, finishing fifth and sixth. Hamilton and Tsunoda were behind them, with Albon and Perez completing the top 10.
Verstappen had to pit early due to a problem with his car’s energy recovery system, leaving him in 18th place overall. Norris finished last and is being investigated for not following the race director’s instructions.
