Two red flags were brought out in FP2 after both Sainz and Hulkenberg had incidents while Charles Leclerc topped the session.
With only a quarter of the running time actually used, Charles Leclerc topped the session followed by Lando Norris.
Before Carlos Sainz’s crash, George Russell took the fastest time with a 1.25.906 on the medium tyre. However, no one was able to challenge the time as Sainz lost control of the car out of turn 2.
The Spaniard had a strong snap entering turn three and spun into the opposing wall which brought out the first fed flag of the session.
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Sainz blamed dirty air from the car ahead and a bump on the bend was to blame. Several other drivers had commented in FP1 on the bottoming out through the first complex.
Only eight minutes had elapsed before Sainz’s crash and a further 27 was lost as the marshalls fixed the barrier.
This was particularly frustrating as several drivers lost running time in FP1 due to half the grid sitting out to allow rookies to drive their cars.
On top of this, FP2 was the most realistic settings to the race and therefore much of the important data was lost.
The session resumed with 25 minutes left but before the drivers could set a time, it was halted again after Nico Hulkenberg lost the car out of turn one.
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Hulkenberg lost the rear on the exit kerb and hit the opposite armco barriers. While fears this could also be as long, it restarted quick enough.
As the light went green, 16 minutes were still on the clock to give drivers time on track.
While drivers were itching to go, none were more so than 2023 world champion Max Verstappen. The Dutchman took to overtaking drivers on pit exit with complaints of his overtake in the tunnel on Lewis Hamilton.
However, once track action restarted, no more delays occurred. Norris set the initial fastest lap of 1.25.024 but quickly fell.
Both Alfa Romeos set strong times to replace Norris with Pierre Gasly eventually splitting them. However, it was Charles Leclerc who came through to beat them all and set a 1.24.809s. This stayed the fastest time of the session.
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Norris pitted to put on softs to challenge Leclerc but couldn’t beat his time, setting a 1.24.852.
Neither Red Bulls seemed to be able to touch the top two in the short period of time. While Verstappen finished third, Perez could only get up to fifth, sat behind Valtteri Bottas.
Although Sergio Perez looked quick on an earlier lap, setting the fastest middle sector, he backed out at the final complex. By the time he attempted his final lap, the best was taken out of his tyres.
Russell despite his early fast time finished sixth and his teammate Lewis Hamilton finished eighth.
Oscar Piastri cleaned up to take tenth marginally ahead of Fernando Alonso.
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