Lewis Hamilton posted the fastest time in FP2 ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, narrowly edging out Carlos Sainz by just 0.022 seconds. The seven-time F1 champion soared to the top during the mid-session soft tyre runs, overtaking home favourite Sainz, who had initially led the field on the C3 tyres, the softest compound available this weekend. A quiet hour of practice but a very competitive result as Hamilton ends up just 0.022s ahead of Carlos Sainz, with Lando Norris 0.055s off the pace.
Five teams are in the top five – Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine and Red Bull.
Earlier, George Russell had set the pace on medium tyres, surpassing FP1 leader Lando Norris’ 1m14.197s with a time of 1m14.089s, establishing a benchmark for the subsequent soft-tyre runs.
Carlos Sainz was the first front-runner to clock a fast lap on the red-walled tyres, recording a 1m13.286s. Norris briefly challenged this, but the McLaren driver fell short by just 0.033 seconds.
Max Verstappen showed promise with the best times in the first and third sectors on his initial qualifying simulation, but a 0.3s loss in the middle sector left him behind Sainz and Norris. Lewis Hamilton then propelled his Mercedes to the top with a 1m13.264s, thanks to a strong final sector, narrowly surpassing Carlos Sainz’s time.
Attention soon shifted to race simulations, effectively freezing the standings as teams focused on assessing their cars in race trim. Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris completed the top three, all within 0.055s of Hamilton’s best time. Verstappen, initially in fourth, was unexpectedly bumped to fifth by a strong lap from Pierre Gasly, who split the leading trio.
Charles Leclerc posted the sixth fastest time but largely sat out the longer runs as Ferrari adjusted his SF-24’s suspension settings to find more pace. Oscar Piastri secured seventh place ahead of Russell, who was less than half a second behind Hamilton despite struggling with braking issues on his Mercedes.
Esteban Ocon gave Alpine a boost with the ninth fastest time, ensuring both A524s were in the top half of the timesheets, while Valtteri Bottas completed the top 10, finishing ahead of the two Haas cars.
FP2 final timings!
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