FP2: Hamilton heads Mercedes one-two in second practice in Montreal

Confirming the improved form of their heavily updated W14, Mercedes ended up fastest in the second practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton having pipped his teammate George Russell in Montreal. F1Technical's Balázs Szabó reports on the second free practice session.

Mercedes started the second session with a long run, sending Hamilton and Russell out on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on a heavy fuel load while their rivals were fine-tuning the setup during shorter runs. Following their long run simulation, Hamilton set a 1m13.718s to end up just 0.027s quicker than Russell to head a Mercedes one-two in Montreal.

Despite Mercedes’ eye-catching pace, their performance looked to have been aided by track evolution, with Hamilton and Russell completing their soft tyre qualifying simulation runs more than 10 minutes after everyone else.

Following a tough Spanish Grand Prix, Ferrari appeared to be in a much improved form on the opening day of the Canadian Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz taking third behind the Mercedes duo.

The Spaniard posted a 1m13.844 of softs with his teammate Charles Leclerc ending the session in fifth place. In fact, the Monegasque was on course to set a much quicker time on his last push lap before having been forced to slow down due to a red-flag period triggered by Esteban Ocon's stricken Alpine.

Despite struggling for pace earlier in the session, Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso took 4th, finishing the session only over three tenths of a second adrift of Hamilton. His teammate Lance Stroll took 9th on the leaderboard.

Double world champion Max Verstappen was over four tenths adrift of Hamilton in the dominant Red Bull RB19, but he set his best lap much earlier than the field-leading Mercedes duo. His teammate Sergio Perez set the eighth fastest time after having struggled for an ideal balance with his car.

While the opening practice was curtailed by CCTV issues, the second session was also interrupted two times. The first red flag period was triggered by Nico Hulkenberg, who suffered a smoky engine failure in his Haas.

Shortly after the session resumed, the red flags were flying once more when Esteban Ocon stopped as a precaution with a suspected water leak in his Alpine.

With only three minutes left on the clock, a heavy downpour hit in the closing stages of the session with several drivers using the opportunity to get out on to the track on intermediate tyres.