Lewis Hamilton moves clear in second French GP practice session

Lewis Hamilton extended his advantage over his rivals as he comfortably led the way in the second practice session for Formula 1’s French Grand Prix.

Hamilton topped the opening 90-minute gathering at Circuit Paul Ricard and remained on top in the late afternoon session, posting a time of 1:32.539, using Pirelli’s Ultrasoft tyres.

Daniel Ricciardo emerged as Hamilton’s closest challenger, though wound up 0.704s behind the Mercedes driver, with Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen close behind in third.

Ferrari again took fourth and fifth, with Kimi Raikkonen once more in front of Sebastian Vettel, the Finn recovering from a spin exiting Verrerie in the early stages of the session.

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Romain Grosjean maintained sixth position, 1.1s behind Hamilton, as Valtteri Bottas classified a low-key seventh on account of a water leak.

The problem with his Mercedes W09 consigned him to the garage for much of the session as he recorded just seven laps.

Fernando Alonso vaulted up to eighth place during the closing stages of running, before spinning through Virage de L’Hotel, as Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly completed the top 10 for Haas and Toro Rosso respectively.

Renault took 11th and 12th on home soil, with Nico Hulkenberg edging Carlos Sainz Jr. by 0.019s, albeit with the duo half a second adrift of Gasly.

Stoffel Vandoorne and Charles Leclerc classified 13th and 14th, while Brendon Hartley was 15th prior to a suspected engine-related stoppage late on, which caused the VSC to be implemented.

Force India and Williams both had low-key sessions, with Esteban Ocon ahead of Lance Stroll, with Sergey Sirotkin and Sergio Perez at the rear of the 19 runners.

Sirotkin inadvertently pulled into the Force India pit box during the session, while Perez caused a red flag when his right-rear wheel detached from his VJM11 as he entered the Mistral Straight.

Perez was sent into a spin as the detached wheel continued along the straight before coming to a safe halt; the session was halted in order for his car to be recovered.

Marcus Ericsson did not participate in the session due to the damage his Sauber C37 sustained in a crash in first practice.