Max Verstappen edges Charles Leclerc as Sebastian Vettel faces double investigation

Max Verstappen edged Charles Leclerc at the end of the second practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix to complete a Friday clean sweep.

Verstappen had topped the opening hour-long run at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve by a quarter of a second to Leclerc's Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz.

It was a much closer affair, however, come the conclusion to the second session as Red Bull's reigning champion finished 0.081secs clear of the Monégasque following a lap of one minute 14.127s, a full second quicker than in FP1.

Sainz had to settle for being third quickest, again nearly a quarter of a second adrift of the Dutchman, with Sebastian Vettel a surprising fourth on the timesheet, 0.315s off the pace.

Aston Martin driver Vettel, however, faces two stewards' investigations, initially for an unsafe release earlier in the session that forced Haas driver Kevin Magnussen into an abrupt halt in the pit lane to avoid a collision.

The second is for not following the race director's instructions pertaining to turn 14 as he failed to stay to the left of the bollard in returning to the track.

Team-mate Lance Stroll is also under investigation for the same infringement, along with AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly.

Vettel, though, can at least be happy with the pace of his car and to be in such a rare position given the team's struggles earlier in the campaign, although there have been signs of improvement of late.

Alpine's Fernando Alonso and Gasly were fifth and sixth quickest ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, who finished 0.844s behind Verstappen.

As for Russell's team-mate Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time F1 champion finished the session bemoaning his W13 again, describing it as "undriveable", and with the Briton down in 13th, 1.294s down.

Hamilton had run an experimental floor in FP1, with Russell using the most-recent configuration, with the former reverting to that spec for FP2.

McLaren duo Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo were just behind Russell on the timesheet, along with Alpine's Esteban Ocon who completed the top 10.

Not for the first time this season, Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas encountered technical issues that consigned him to the garage for most of the session bar three exploratory laps, leaving him without a time and bottom of the standings.

Canadian Grand Prix second practice results

1. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] 1:14.127secs

2. Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] +0.081s

3. Carlos Sainz [Ferrari] +0.225s

4. Sebastian Vettel [Aston Martin] +0.315s

5. Fernando Alonso [Alpine] +0.416s

6. Pierre Gasly [AlphaTauri] +0.752s

7. George Russell [Mercedess +0.844s

8. Lando Norris [McLaren] +0.860s

9. Daniel Ricciardo [McLaren] +0.906s

10. Esteban Ocon [Alpine] +0.992s

11. Sergio Perez [Red Bull] +1.040s

12. Lance Stroll [Aston Martin] +1.269s

13.Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] +1.294s

14. Kevin Magnussen [Haas] +1.372s

15. Mick Schumacher [Haas] +1.389s

16. Zhou Guanyu [Alfa Romeo] +1.399s

17. Yuki Tsunoda [AlphaTauri] +1.440s

18. Alexander Albon [Williams] +2.044s

19. Nicholas Latifi [Williams] +2.382s

20. Valtteri Bottas [Alfa Romeo] no time

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