Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Boss of Formula 1 World Championship, which had already been in the first, returned to be the fastest this Friday in the second free practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, the ninth of the World Cup; which takes place on the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal, where he entered the clock just ahead of the two Ferraris, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc and the Spaniard Carlos Sainz.

In the best of its 32 laps -one more than the two Ferraris gave-, Verstappen covered the 4,316 meters of the Canadian track in one minute, 14 seconds and 127 thousandths, only 81 less than Leclerc; and with a 225 advantage over Sainz, who set the third fastest time of the session, like the previous ones, with the soft rubber tyre; in a repetition where the other Spaniard, the double Asturian world champion Fernando Alonso (Alpine), signed the fifth time trial; and the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) -second in the World Cup, 21 points behind his Dutch teammate-, eleventh.

Asturian triumph in 2006

Alonso, who repeated 24 times the track on which in 2006 – the year in which he revalidated the title – won one of his 32 victories in F1, set the fifth time of the session: 416 thousandths from the leader of the championship and a tenth of the time of the four-time German world champion Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), who registered fourth in the time table this Friday. Everyone set their best time before simulating a long-distance racein a session that, threatened at the end by rain that did not fall during it, ended with 25 degrees Celsius ambient and 35 on the asphalt.

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‘Checo’, who finished second in Azerbaijan last Sunday, took his twentieth F1 podium and achieved, with ‘Mad Max’, Red Bull’s third ‘double’ of the year, set the eleventh time of the second session -in which the best times of the day were achieved-, after finishing fourth in the first training session. In a session where everyone risked, but where, with the exception of a few “rides” and a few crusades, no notable incident was recorded, the brave pilot from Guadalajara repeated 28 times the beautiful track built on the the artificial island of Notre-Dame, which bathes the St. Lawrence River; and on his fastest lap he was one and 40 hundredths behind his Dutch teammate.

The third free practice session will take place this Saturday, a few hours before the qualifying, which will determine the starting formation for Sunday’s race: planned for 70 laps, to complete a course of 305.2 kilometers.