Norris continues to set the pace at Silverstone in FP2

McLaren's Lando Norris completed his sweep at the top of Friday's practice times at Silverstone, pipping his team mate Oscar Piastri to the top spot with a time of 1:26.549s, over three tenths quicker than the rest.

Sergio Perez was third fastest but his Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen was only seventh after sliding off heading into Chapel. The session effectively ended a few minutes early with the gradual onset of light rain.

There were no stoppages or incidents during the afternoon. Although some of the drivers had to have the floor of their cars checked after running off over the kerbs, no one appeared to have any significant issues before the chequered flag.

• 2024 British Grand Prix - Free Practice 2 results

Second practice for the British Grand Prix took place in cool, gloomy conditions under overcast skies with rain forecast for later - a typical July summer's day in the UK, in other words. Logan Sargeant was first out in his Williams, followed by Yuki Tsunoda who had triggered a red flag in FP1 after beaching his RB in the gravel.

Sargeant - along with Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly - were all in a hurry to get going after sitting out the first session in favour of young drivers. However it was the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who took early control of the timing screens, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri swiftly recovering from his FP1 stoppage to go third.

Max Verstappen was soon on the move and went top with a time of 1:27.831s on mediums to go over three tenths ahead of Lando Norris and George Russell. It took Lewis Hamilton a second lap to push up to P2, 0.270s behind Verstappen's leading effort. Leclerc also improved despite telling the Ferrari pit wall that he was really struggling at high speed. His race engineer confirmed what he was feeling, telling the Monegasque: "it's really on the edge."

Verstappen pressed on with a move to soft tyres for his next outing having eschewed the compound in the lunchtime session. That put him on 1:27.233s, half a second ahead of the response from Sainz, who was convinced that the track was getting slower. Like Sainz, Russell was still on mediums as he closed to within three tenths of the Red Bull.

Fast laps on softs from Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso suggested there was more rubber doing down on the track, with Alex Albon up to fifth behind Russell with his latest. Verstappen slid off heading into Chapel and Gasly also pushed a bit too hard at Copse, going off the track at the same corner sending up a shower of sparks as he rejoined. The team needed to check the floor of the Alpine for damage. Gasly knows he already has a hefty grid penalty for Sunday for taking a fifth power unit.

Sainz closed to within 0.016s of the top with his first run on the softs to put him ahead of Aston Martin's Lance Stroll. Leclerc again flirted with disaster on his run but the end result was the fastest lap of the day - until it was immediately bettered by Nico Hulkenberg posting a time of 1:26.990s in the Haas. Then it was Piastri's time to show what he could do, going a tenth quicker in the MCL38.

Norris responded by going more than three tenths quicker on his next run, but he also ran off and asked for the team to check the floor when he came back into the pits. Sergio Perez lifted himself up to third P3 behind the McLaren pair just as the drivers were warned of incoming rain arriving from the Stowe end of the circuit, meaning they needed to get on with higher fuel long runs.

With the weather closing in and temperatures falling, there was no time for further improved laps before the rain slouched in with five minutes remaining, bringing serious running to a premature finish.

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