Mercedes secured its second one-two of Friday’s sessions at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Lewis Hamilton leading teammate Valtteri Bottas by 0.287s in Free Practice 2 for the Spanish Grand Prix, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third.
With track temperatures about 10 degrees hotter than in FP1 this morning, Hamilton’s best time of qualifying simulations in FP2 was 1m 16.883s, 0.098s slower than Bottas’ lead time earlier in the day – while Bottas had a small breath at Turn 16 on his fastest flying lap, which may explain the hole in part to his teammate, before later running off the track at Turn 12 on his long run.
FP1: Bottas pips Hamilton in first practice for the Spanish GP as Vettel gets closer to Leclerc
As he was this morning, Verstappen was the best non-Mercedes runner, Hamilton’s 0.821s drive for Red Bull. Behind, however, came two of the most impressive performances of the session, Daniel Ricciardo reaffirmed Renault’s strong finish by briefly going fourth, 0.164s from Verstappen.
Meanwhile, after finishing P6 this morning, Romain Grosjean went one better in FP2, and finished as fifth to finish off what has been Haas’ most positive day of performance to date by 2020 – although that was a bit tainted by a late issue on Grosjean’s car, which prompted the team to investigate after the session.
|
1 Lewis Hamilton HAM Mercedes |
1: 16.883 |
|
2 Valtteri Bottas BOT Mercedes |
+ 0.287s |
|
3 Max Step away VER Red Bull Racing |
+ 0.821s |
|
4 Daniel Ricciardo RIC Renault |
+ 0.985s |
|
5 Romain Grosjean GRO Haas F1 Team |
+ 1,250s |
After being just a tenth behind his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc in FP1, Sebastian Vettel struggled more in FP2, finishing in P12 after Leclerc’s P6, although the pair were separated by a non-huge 0.257s. It was certainly a smaller gap than that of Verstappen to Alex Albon in P13, which stood at 0.787s after the quality simulations, Albon had made a mistake from Turn 5 on his fastest lap.
Read more: ‘I expect him to bounce back’ – Former teammates and rivals return Vettel to tough start to 2020
Behind Leclerc in the sixth was Carlos Sainz P7 for McLaren in his new MCL35 chassis – Vettel also drove his own new SF1000 chassis, after a crack was discovered on his old one – while Sergio Perez was eighth on his first day back at the wheel of his Racing Point RP20 since contract Covid-19.
Around the top 10 came the second Renault from Esteban Ocon, who complained about a lack of stability at the back on his RS20 before finishing ninth, while 10th was Pierre Gasly for AlphaTauri, 0.045s ahead of the second Racing Point of Lance Stroll in P11.
Behind Vettel and Albon, Lando Norris was 14th for McLaren, ahead of Daniil Kvyat’s second AlphaTauri and Kevin Magnussen’s second Haas, who could not keep up with Grosjean’s duck pace.
Read more: Sainz hopes McLaren’s pit stop will solve ‘weakness’ and cooling problems ahead of home game
After the start of the last race at the back of the grid, Alfa Romeo will have been mildly happy to have Williams in FP2, Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi in P17 and P18, while Nicholas Latifi was the leading Williams driver, George Russell returning to his car delivered it to Roy Nissany this morning, with the Briton complaining that the feeling behind the wheel of his FW43 was “riding on ice” as he finished 2,508s of the ultimate pace in P20.
That, Mercedes are ahead – but can the likes of Renault, Haas and Ferrari keep themselves at the sharp end of the action when qualification comes into play? We’ll find out on Saturday.
