We've said on more than one occasion that Friday's second practice is a great way to gauge the true strength of each car captain in terms of distance, and as predicted before the race, McLaren and Red Bull are undoubtedly the favourites for Silverstone. Although Norris took the lead again in the second practice session, while Verstappen made a mistake at the Becketts corner in similar course conditions, the comparison of the two laps is not informative, but it is difficult to tell the difference between the two men over the long distance.
Generally speaking, it is difficult to make a direct comparison between practice track data, as there are big differences in engine modes and fuel loads between teams, but Red Bull clearly used a lower engine mode in terms of engine speed on the long straights, although Verstappen was only 0.07 seconds slower than Norris in the long distance, and the 0.07 second difference was clearly due to the different engine modes, considering that the two were also on medium tyres.
Comparing the fastest laps of the two, it can be seen that Norris is much faster than Verstappen in all straights or high-speed corners with speeds above 200 km/h, and from the engine speed of the two, Verstappen revs on average about 500 rpm lower than Norris in the same place, which means that Red Bull's engine mode is at least about 10 hp lower than McLaren's Mercedes engine, if both Mercedes and Honda's power units are in qualifying mode, Verstappen should have been slightly quicker than Norris on the qualifying lap.
In terms of long distances, regardless of engine mode and fuel load, Verstappen and Norris run almost in the same rhythm.
But compared to the other big teams, Red Bull and McLaren are both faster than 0.3 seconds, and 0.4 seconds faster than Ferrari. For Red Bull in particular, the drinks team is accustomed to running long distances on Fridays in heavy fuel mode, which means that Verstappen's lead over Ferrari is likely to be more than half a second in the race.
Even if McLaren wins one or two in the second practice, according to the prediction, They will still be around 0.1 seconds off Verstappen's long-distance tempo in the race, but given McLaren's advantage in tyre management in the cold temperatures, and with the same pit stop strategy and tyre formulation, they will be able to highlight tyres in the closing stages of the race, so it's hard to say who will be the winner of the race, it will depend on the starting order, and if Verstappen takes pole position and can establish an advantage before the stop, there is no doubt that the Dutchman will be the favourites to win the race.
But it's hard to say whether the weather will be unpredictable during Sunday's race, and given the performance of the two cars in Canada, Norris clearly has a clear advantage on semi-wet tyres, which would be a huge advantage for McLaren if it rains. Even so, this British Grand Prix has little chance for Mercedes and Ferrari.