Sainz leads Hamilton and Norris in second practice at Silverstone · RaceFans

Carlos Sainz Jnr set the pace for Ferrari in the only dry practice session on Friday at Silverstone.

Sainz’s best time on a 1’28.942 saw him go quickest overall ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes and Lando Norris in the McLaren. Max Verstappen was fourth fastest in the Red Butrll, just ahead of Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari.

After earlier rain led to hardly any running in first practice, the sun had finally come out by the time that the second and final session of Formula 1 action got underway, with air temperature just over 19C and the track warming to over 31C.

Unsurprisingly, there was a large rush at the green flag as all 20 drivers took to the circuit as soon as they were able to. All three compounds were on display as drivers enjoyed their first dry laps of the weekend, with Verstappen using the mediums to go immediately fastest of all ahead of team mate Sergio Perez.

Red Bull were then replaced by the two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz at the top of the times, also on the medium tyres. Norris had a snap of oversteer through the fast Abbey sweeper, before Verstappen had a similar loss of grip into Village slightly further along the lap.

George Russell complained of being impeded by Yuki Tsunoda into Brooklands on one of his flying laps, before Lando Norris appeared to do the same to the Mercedes driver at Luffield on a subsequent lap.

Just before half way through the session, Norris used the soft tyres to put his McLaren to the top of the times with a 1’29.118, over three tenths faster than Leclerc’s best time on the mediums. Sainz then took to the track on the softs and put Ferrari back on top with a time a tenth faster than his former McLaren team mate.

Two of the biggest names were remaining in the garage during the middle phase of the session – Verstappen reportedly suffered minor damage to his Red Bull’s new floor, while Hamilton’s Mercedes was receiving a lot of attention to the rear by his mechanics. Eventually, both drivers were sent back out onto the circuit with around 20 minutes of the session remaining.

There was concern for McLaren when the rear jack failed when Norris returned to the pits after a run, dropping his car harshly onto the solid surface of his pit box. Thankfully, there did not seem to be any significant damage to the floor of the McLaren as Norris was able to be sent back out soon after.

Hamilton moved to second place on the soft tyres with a lap time just 0.16s off Sainz’s best time, but after…