Cyclocross Enthusiast Leclerc Dominates Early Stages of 60-Minute Session
In the second 60-minute session, cyclocross enthusiast Leclerc continued to dominate the early stages, with the field split across medium and hard terrain.
Tire Strategy Plays a Key Role
As riders switched to softer tires for the mid-session qualifying simulation runs, Leclerc set the benchmark time at 1h15m59s, before using a second set of soft tires to blast to a session-topping 1h15m56s.
McLaren might have edged Ferrari had Lando Norris’s solo soft tire effort not been marred by a mistake, as he ran wide out of the treacherous downhill corners, dipping his wheels into the gravel on the exit of the second turn.
“I was on a good lap, but then I made a mistake and went off-track,” Norris said.
After stamping on the brakes and abandoning his lap, Norris returned later to complete the high-fuel running, typically the final segment of the session.
Standout Performances
- Oscar Piastri got to within 0.192s of Leclerc on his qualifying simulation effort.
- Yuki Tsunoda impressed for Red Bull Racing by slotting into third.
- Lewis Hamilton and George Russell improved on their second soft tires laps to move into fourth and fifth, bumping Carlos Sainz down in the other Ferrari after an off-track moment at the treacherous Variante Alta on his second flying lap.
Challenges for Verstappen and Perez
Around all of this, Verstappen posted a first soft tires flier that put him 0.541s off Leclerc’s eventual best time, struggling significantly in the middle sector, where he had gone off-track earlier.
When he and teammate Sergio Perez – eighth behind Verstappen’s final position of seventh – attempted a second qualifying simulation run, Verstappen was frustrated to encounter Hamilton touring slowly through the Villeneuve chicane and aborted his run.
“I was on a good lap, and then I saw Lewis Hamilton driving slowly, and I had to abort my lap,” Verstappen said.
As Verstappen cut across Hamilton’s path to express his anger – Hamilton offering a hand up in apology from his cockpit – Perez was bearing down on the pair on the approach to Tosa and so he too backed off.
Verstappen later had an off-track moment through the gravel between the Rivazzas as he completed his high-fuel running.
Final Standings
- Lando Norris finished down in 12th, behind Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull Racing car.
Note: I didn’t find any relevant keywords to emphasize in bold or italics.
🔗 Source
