Lewis Hamilton ended the first day of running at the Spanish Grand Prix on top after setting the pace in Free Practice 2, leading the way from Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.
While Norris set the fastest time in the initial practice session, there were still uncertainties about the hierarchy as the second practice session began. Ferrari, Mercedes, and Alpine did not use the soft tire in the first session, adding to the uncertainty.
Second practice started off busy as many drivers went out on the track using medium or hard compounds. Logan Sargeant had an early scare but was able to save his Williams car, which is the same spec as his teammate Alex Albon’s car, from losing control at the rear.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen mentioned that his RB20 was struggling with understeer in the middle of corners, and he commented, “This car is not very responsive.” On the other hand, George Russell from Mercedes set the fastest time in the initial runs, with a lap time of 1m 14.089s using medium tires. The attention then turned to setting quick lap times as the group began using the soft tire, with Sainz being the first to go fastest in front of the spectators in his home country in the Ferrari, before Hamilton claimed the top spot by only two hundredths of a second. The lap time of 1m 13.264s set by the seven-time world champion was still the fastest as drivers started their race simulation runs in the session. Sainz held onto second place while Norris moved up to third in the McLaren. Gasly impressed with a fourth place finish for Alpine, placing him ahead of Verstappen in fifth.
Charles Leclerc finished in sixth place driving the Ferrari, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in seventh and Russell in eighth. This resulted in the top four teams being evenly distributed among the top eight positions.
The top-10 was completed by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas in the Kick Sauber. Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg from Haas team finished 11th and 12th in the race.
Nico Hulkenberg had his first practice session of the weekend after Oliver Bearman drove his car in FP1. Sergio Perez ended up in 13th place as he started his soft tire laps later than other drivers, causing him to be out of sync with the rest of the field. Fernando Alonso, driving for Aston Martin, finished in 14th place, marking 11 years since his last Formula 1 victory at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Following Alonso were Yuki Tsunoda in 15th place and Daniel Ricciardo in 16th place, driving for the RB team.
Zhou Guanyu settled in 17th place for Kick Sauber, opting to return to an older chassis in order to regain confidence in the C44. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll then followed in 18th position.
Williams team mates Albon and Sargeant brought up the rear in P19 and P20 respectively.
With Friday’s track action in Barcelona now complete, the drivers and teams will assess their data before returning for third and final practice on Saturday at 1230 local time, prior to qualifying later in the day.
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