2022 Canadian Grand Prix report and highlight: Verstappen Leclerc points 0.081sec to sweep Friday practice sessions in Montreal

World champion Max Verstappen set the pace in second practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, but title challenger Charles Leclerc kept him straight as he ended up 0.081sec behind at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit.

The Red Bull 1m driver clocked 14.127 seconds on new soft tyres, with part of the fuel running out, to lead the times over Leclerc, with Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari second a tenth of a second off the lead in third.

As it happened: All the action from second practice for the Canadian Grand Prix

Perhaps the surprise of the course came from Canada’s 2018 winner Sebastian Vettel, as the German put his Aston Martin in an impressive fourth, just 0.315 seconds off top speed.

Fernando Alonso looked strong in the first practice and continued at that level in the second session, carving out his own Alps for fifth – a tenth of fellow world champion Vettel – with AlphaTauri team Pierre Gasly in sixth.

Gasly ran wide at the end of the race and went to the wrong side of the barrier, leading the stewards to say they would investigate the crash after the race. Vettel did the same and he will be investigated as well, as will his teammate Lance Stroll.

Mercedes’ George Russell was the lead in seventh, with McLaren’s Lando Norris taking eighth and making seven different teams in the top eight, just 0.860 seconds off the eight.

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Daniel Ricciardo continued his transformation in form with ninth, less than half a tenth of a second behind teammate Norris, as Esteban Ocon completed the top ten.

Monaco Grand Prix winner Sergio Perez had a disappointing mid-sector on his soft tyre series and was thus out of eleventh place, ahead of Stroll, with seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton 13 – 0.4 slower than his teammate Russell. second.

Hamilton is back on the record floor this season, rather than the hole-punch version where he ran in FP1, to bring him in line with Russell.

Kevin Magnussen looked stronger than he did this morning with 14th – the Dane finished FP1 in P20 – slightly ahead of his Haas teammate Mick Schumacher, with Zhou Guanyu 16th, as Alfa Romeo teammate Valtteri Bottas’ training problems continued on Friday. Because he failed in that set the time.

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The Finn got off the track, made three laps, but was called up each time when the team spotted a problem, including losing leadership and landing in the pits.

Yuki Tsunoda – who works in a different program where he will start the race from the back of the grid after engine penalties, and therefore focuses on long-term performance rather than qualifying – was 17th, with Williams duo Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi 18th and 19th respectively, ahead on Bottas.