Ahead of the first sprint of the season later today, George Russell went fastest for Mercedes as the eight-time defending Constructors’ Champions showed more promise in completely dry conditions.

Unlike the mayhem of yesterday afternoon, it was a relatively quiet session and no red flags needed to be thrown.

With the teams focusing on long runs, Mercedes could finally generate tyre temperature in FP2 that they simply couldn’t in qualifying because of all the stoppages and colder weather.

Russell’s 1:19.457 on the soft compound tyre was 0.081s quicker than Sergio Perez – and it was over a second faster than his qualifying time. The Mexican logged his best effort using the medium tyre, as did Charles Leclerc in P3.

Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton was the only other driver to dip into the 1:19s in P4, followed by former teammate Fernando Alonso in P5.

Solid session for George and Lewis! Next up, the Sprint! 👊 pic.twitter.com/RURDdCOhtp

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 23, 2022

Sainz, Verstappen, Tsunoda, Gasly and Guanyu rounded out the top 10.

Albon, Magnussen, Schumacher, Stroll, Vettel, Ocon and Latifi were the other drivers to get representative running in before the sprint this afternoon. The Aston Martin drivers completed the most laps in FP2 as they both managed to do 37. 

It was a nightmare session for McLaren. Brake problems restricted Lando Norris to just five laps. On the other side of the garage, Daniel Ricciardo never got out as a suspected power unit issue prevented him from running.

A tough session today, Lando finishes P18 and Daniel P19.

We'll give it everything next in the #F1Sprint. 👊#ImolaGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/qDWLvSTgj9

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) April 23, 2022

Valtteri Bottas also didn’t run in FP2 as the Alfa Romeo team tried to get to the bottom of the exhaust issues which forced him to stop in Q3 yesterday.

END OF FP2: Russell tops the session#ImolaGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/EJUeeCKmwi

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 23, 2022