Max on P9 in second free practice in Montreal: 'A positive day for us'

Published on 14 June 2025 by Florence Cobben

Max Verstappen closed the second free practice of the Canadian Grand Prix in ninth. On the Montreal street circuit Max clocked a fastest time of 1:12.666, making the Oracle Red Bull Racing-driver about half a second slower than the fastest man on track, George Russell in the Mercedes. Lando Norris (McLaren) finished in P2, followed by Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) in P3. Max’s long runs looked promising, boding well for the race.

After the session, Max reflected a bit on the day as a whole: “The day was alright to be honest! FP1, I was quite happy with the car. FP2 was a bit more difficult, for other reasons – we lost something with the car, balance-wise... we need to investigate. But overall quite a positive day for us.”

Anticipating qualifying, Max predicts: “Let’s see tomorrow. You know there’s still one more session where people can get it right. For us, we just want to get in a really good window and see we are up there in qualifiying.”

On the 4.361 meter Gilles-Villeneuve circuit, the second free practice gets underway without Charles Leclerc. His crash in the first free practice means Ferrari is hard pressed to fix his car.

Max goes out and clocks a time of 1:13.429 on the soft tyre, bringing him to P3, behind Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton. 10 minutes into the session, home town hero Lance Stroll hit the wall coming out of turn seven. The left front wheel on his Aston Martin dangles dangerously off the car, forcing him to retire from the session. He maneuvers the car off track, preventing a red flag from being flown.

Max improves his time to a 1:12.815, again reclaiming his position in P3, behind George Russell and Carlos Sainz’s Williams. After about eight laps Max returns to the pits. Franco Colapinto walks familiar terrain, again spinning at turn two. The Argentinian again manages to wrestle his car back on track and drives on. Just like in the first free practice, many drivers skid out and drive outside the track, but without leading to any major incident.

With just 35 minutes on the clock, Max leaves the pits on a set of medium compound tyres. He makes a small improvement to his time (1:12.666), but he continues to sink down the timesheets as other drivers are going faster and faster. 

After another trip to the pits to alter the set up, Max goes to take the same set of tyres for another spin. The focus changes to his race pace, so there isn’t much hope for his performance in the time sheet rankings. The laps Max set are all on the low side of the 1:16 minute range, placing him with the fastest drivers where race pace is concerned. Max concludes the session in P9 with 30 laps to his name, about a second slower than fastest man George Russell. Lando Norris is a fraction slower than Russell in P2, while rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli ends the session in third. Alexander Albon is fourth, followed by Fernando Alonso in fifth.

Contest GP Canada: win a by Max Verstappen signed Red Bull Racing 2025 cap!

Results second free practice Canada: