FP2: Sainz leads British duo of Hamilton and Norris in second practice at Silverstone

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz clocked the quickest time in second practice for the British Grand Prix, ahead of home hero Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes at Silverstone.

The track had fully dried after the rain-affected opening practice, with Sainz fitting fresh soft tyres on his low-fuel run to clock a 1m 28.942s, 0.163s clear of Hamilton in front of an impressive crowd that is set to hit 400,000 over the course of the weekend.

AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from second practice for the British Grand Prix

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who was running the returning pedal camera, was third, a fraction further back, as championship leader Max Verstappen, voicing his unhappiness with the car throughout, took fourth.

Charles Leclerc was fifth, the Ferrari driver hardly improving when he swapped mediums for softs, with Fernando Alonso, in a heavily updated Alpine, sixth.

Next up was Monaco Grand Prix winner Sergio Perez, six tenths of a second adrift of his Red Bull team mate and 0.046s ahead of George Russell, who like his Mercedes team mate Hamilton was running a suite of performance upgrades.

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who spun out in opening practice, completed the top 10.

Valtteri Bottas – fastest in wet conditions in FP1 – was 11th, three places and three tenths of a second clear of Alfa Romeo team mate Zhou Guanyu.

FP1: Bottas leads Hamilton in rain-affected first practice at Silverstone as Stroll ends session in gravel

Esteban Ocon was half a second shy of Alpine team mate Alonso in 12th, ahead of Alex Albon, who had the new upgrade package bolted onto his Williams FW44. He ended up a second ahead of team mate Nicholas Latifi, running the old package – with the Canadian finishing 20th quickest.

MUST-SEE: Watch Norris’s fancy footwork as Pedal Cam returns to F1 for the first time in 22 years

Sebastian Vettel had to box after the team discovered an issue with the floor, Aston Martin one of several teams who have brought a big performance upgrade this weekend. He ended up 15th, ahead of the leading AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda.

Haas’s Kevin Magnussen was 17th, with Pierre Gasly – who complained of no grip during the session – an uncharacteristic 18th, just a tenth clear of Mick Schumacher.