Carlos Sainz quickest in second practice for British GP with encouragement for Lewis Hamilton

Carlos Sainz ended second practice for this Sunday’s British Grand Prix fastest, but there was encouragement for home favourites Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris. 

Ferrari’s Sainz's best time of 1:28.942sec was 0.163sec faster than the Mercedes of Hamilton, with fellow Briton Norris just 0.010sec off the seven-time champion. 

Mercedes have struggled for pace and with porpoising and bouncing issues throughout the season, but after bumpy weekends in Monaco, Azerbaijan and Canada, the Silverstone track is likely to be more kind to their car and their drivers’ bodies. 

Hamilton did, however, complain of bouncing in high-speed sections of the Northamptonshire track in his first run in second practice, but managed to put in a seemingly competitive time on his later run, ending up nearly seven-tenths quicker than team-mate George Russell. 

Red Bull looked a little off the pace with championship leader Verstappen in fourth, 0.207sec off Sainz and Sergio Perez in seventh, eight-tenths off the pace. 

Mercedes’ pace on the long runs appeared decent, too, though given the limited dry running it is hard to take too much from Friday’s times. Nevertheless, Mercedes have certainly had worse opening days. 

Earlier in the afternoon, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was fastest in a first practice session that was disrupted as rain fell heavily before the session’s start and intermittently throughout. Only  Hamilton registered a lap count in the double figures. 

By the time track conditions were fit for slick tyres there were only a few minutes remaining on the clock. The session was then brought to a premature close as Lance Stroll spun his Aston Martin at Copse, bringing out a red flag. 

Heading into the 10th race of the season in Great