Friday’s free practice at Silverstone saw Ferrari start on the right foot as a whole as it often did in 2022. Carlos Sainz was the fastest on the single lap, while Charles Leclerc was overall the fastest on the medium tire in a race simulation also quite long at the level of completed laps (8). The rain that fell in PL1 practically halved the useful time available to teams and drivers and data correlation problems emerged at Red Bull at least judging by the words of Sergio Perez.
The RB18 showed up at Silverstone with a substantial package of updates as Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto had predicted and Mercedes was no exception. Lewis Hamilton snatched the second overall time behind Carlos Sainz, but the soft tire operating window for the Mercedes W13 remains very narrow as George Russell pointed out. Max Verstappen in his declarations was less pessimistic than Sergio Perez and underlined that even today’s day including qualifying could be characterized by rain, an unknown factor that could overturn once again a prediction that, although yesterday the final classification of PL2 saw four different teams in the first four positions (Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren), in dry conditions he sees Ferrari as the clear favorite.
According to Mercedes engineers reached by the German head Auto Motor und Sport, Ferrari has half a second advantage on a single lap over the W13, a margin that is then tapered on the race pace as demonstrated yesterday by the times of Russell and Hamilton in the final of PL2. time trial in line with those of Sainz and Leclerc.
The F1-75 has no weaknesses during the lap, while Red Bull suffered enough yesterday in the third sector like McLaren, while the Mercedes W13 suffered the first part of the English circuit. The RB18 was the fastest on the straights, but Ferrari paid just a 4km / h difference. Forecasts at the moment indicate rain – weak – precisely in the time frame in which PL3 (at 13:00 Italian time) and Qualifying (at 16:00) are scheduled.
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