Valtteri Bottas maintained his impressive form with fastest time in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday. The Finn, who leads the drivers’ championship by one point from Mercedes-GP teammate Lewis Hamilton, had been quickest in the first session and he backed that up with a lap of 1 minute, 17.284 seconds in the afternoon. That was 0.049 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who improved after being 0.6 seconds off the pace in the morning.
Mercedes, who have had one-two finishes in the first four races, appear on track to make it five in a row as they held the edge over Scuderia Ferrari. Although the Maranello team was close after FP1, the Scuderia outfit dropped back in the afternoon, as Charles Leclerc was three-tenths down on Bottas. Sebastian Vettel was fourth, less than a tenth down on his Monegasque teammate.
Verstappen ran with the upgraded engine after Red Bull was forced to change his power unit following a leak that occurred during FP1. Max Verstappen, who had an engine change after problems in first practice, was fifth quickest in his Red Bull Racing car, with Romain Grosjean completing the top six. It was a dismal day for Renault though. A new spec engine did little to improve their performance with Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo 14th and 15th fastest respectively.
Final practice for the Spanish Grand Prix begins at 12pm local time on Saturday (11am BST).
Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Results
1. Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport 1m17.284s
2. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport + 0.049s
3. Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari + 0.310s
4. Sebastian Vettel GER Scuderia Ferrari + 0.389s
5. Max Verstappen NED Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda + 0.751s
6. Romain Grosjean FRA Rich Energy Haas F1 Team + 0.869s
7. Pierre Gasly FRA Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda + 0.954s
8. Kevin Magnussen DEN Rich Energy Haas F1 Team + 1.071s
9. Carlos Sainz ESP McLaren F1 Team + 1.374s
10. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda + 1.438s
11. Kimi Raikkonen ITA Alfa Romeo Racing + 1.443s
12. Alexander Albon THA Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda + 1.495s
13. Lance Stroll CAN SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team + 1.555s
14. Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault F1 Team + 1.577s
15. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Renault F1 Team + 1.650s
16. Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team + 1.757s
17. Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo Racing + 2.143s
18. Sergio Perez MEX SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team + 2.164s
19. George Russell GBR ROKiT Williams Racing + 2.907s
20. Robert Kubica POL ROKiT Williams Racing + 3.497s
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