Lance Stroll set the pace in a second practice session for the British Grand Prix that included a bust-up between Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean and in which Alex Albon was involved in a heavy smash.
Stroll had just set what proved to be the fastest lap of the 90-minute run at Silverstone, at a time when drivers were commencing their low-fuel runs on the soft tyres, when Red Bull’s Verstappen and Haas driver Grosjean were involved in an angry exchange
The fault lay with Grosjean as he was driving too slowly through the high-speed Maggotts-Becketts sweep, forcing Verstappen to back off and vent his frustration with a string of expletives over the team radio, and a dismissive wave of his right hand.
Grosjean foolishly responded by pulling alongside Verstappen, to which the Dutch driver did not react kindly to as he replied with a rude hand gesture.
Moments later, via his radio, the Frenchman said: “Oh, I did it on purpose mate. That’s so f***ing childish! So childish.”
Arguably they would have continued their exchange but for Stroll’s new Racing Point team-mate Nico Hülkenburg who came through from behind to drive between them and effectively split them up. With Verstappen’s run ruined, he finished down in 14th.
Within minutes, Alex Albon was involved in a heavy shunt emerging out of Stowe. The Thai-British driver initially caught the slide, only for his Red Bull to snap in the other direction, resulting in him losing control and hitting a metal barrier.
With considerable damage to his rear wing and left-hand side of the car, a visibly shaken Albon emerged from the car and was taken to the medical centre for a check over.
It led to the session being red-flagged for several minutes, thwarting a number of drivers when they were about to spice things up with a number of quick laps.
As it transpired, Stroll managed to get his fast lap in just ahead of the red flag, posting a time of one minute 27.274secs, finishing 0.090s quicker than Albon.
