Long run analysis: Incredibly close at the top, can Honda find overnight gains?

Long runs

Normal(ish) service has resumed for Mercedes. After struggling over the last two Championship rounds, Bottas and Hamilton are comfortably back in the mix for the race win. The French track is better suited to their car and they usually dominate here. 

But that's where the normal service breaks down. Where usually they are comfortably ahead, Red Bull Racing are right with them in terms of single lap pace and the long-runs. The first table below shows the average lap time during the long run for the particulars drivers. 

Bottas leads the way and by a fair distance. The Finnish driver was 0.445 seconds ahead of Verstappens' average lap pace during the long run. Perhaps more striking was the fact Hamilton fell over 0.650 seconds behind. Another highlight in that list is Esteban Ocon. Fernando Alonso's average lap time on the hard tyre was 1:38.625 was also pretty impressive. 

As it stands, Alpine lead the midfield battle. An interesting battle to keep an eye on. Aston Martin, Ferrari and McLaren are all in an interesting duel to push into Q3. Lando Norris failed to breach the top eight in either session. Alonso also set the quickest second sector lap time in FP2. 

Sector times

The age old cliché on a Friday afternoon. Engine modes and fuel levels remain an unknown factor. But we can potentially suggest that Honda are lacking a little bit of power over Mercedes. This weekend, the Japanese engine manufacturer will introduce a new power unit. Usually, teams only introduce their race engine on Saturdays so there's potential Honda could make up the difference. However, a tweet from Honda after FP2 seemed to confirm that they ran the new PU. 

Sector two on Le Castellet circuit basically features one long straight, with a fast chicane. A good place to measure engine performance. During the running on Friday, Mercedes seem to have an advantage, but that could all change overnight.