Championship leader Valtteri Bottas stayed on top of the practice timesheets as Friday’s Spanish Grand Prix action drew to a close. The Finn, who was the quickest driver in Friday’s opening practice session, narrowly outpaced Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton by less than five-hundredths of a second.
The Silver Arrows’ eventual margin over arch rivals Ferrari – which had the fastest car at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in pre-season testing – ended up being three-tenths of a second by the end of the session, although both teams’ drivers took turns at the top of the timing screens during the 90 minutes of running.
Charles Leclerc was the quicker of the Ferrari duo, finishing 0.301 seconds off Bottas’ pace. Teammate Sebastian Vettel was fourth-fastest, although the German would no doubt have been higher up the order were it not for him running wide into the gravel at the exit of Turn 12 on what was looking to be his quickest lap of the session.
After losing some track time in FP1 with an oil leak, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen ended the session fifth-fastest in his Honda-powered RB15, albeit with his fastest lap over three-quarters of a second off Bottas’ best time. Teammate Pierre Gasly finished seventh-fastest.
The Haas team looks to have shrugged off a rocky start to its 2019 campaign and showed a much quicker turn of speed thanks to a number of upgrades to its VF-19 chassis. Having run the new parts in FP1 and declared his car “pretty much brand new”, Romain Grosjean looked impressive and was sixth-fastest with a time just 0.869 seconds off the ultimate pace. Teammate Kevin Magnussen had his first outing with the new aerodynamic parts and was eighth-quickest, although the Dane had a better lap ruined when he was held up by Leclerc.
Carlos Sainz Jr looks set to continue his run of scoring points in every Grand Prix he has contested on home soil, putting his McLaren in ninth on the timesheets ahead of Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat.
The session was largely incident-free, with perhaps the biggest moment coming from Williams’ Robert Kubica who lost the back end of his car on cold tyres as he accelerated away from the chicane and found himself sliding sideways across the pit entry. He and teammate George Russell once again finished as the slowest runners in the session.
FORMULA 1 EMIRATES GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2019 – FREE PRACTICE SESSION 2 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Driver | Team / Entry | Time | Gap | Laps | ||||
1. | Valtteri Bottas | ![]() |
![]() |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport W10 | ![]() |
1:17.284 | 35 | |
2. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
![]() |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport W10 | ![]() |
1:17.333 | + 0.049 | 35 |
3. | Charles Leclerc | ![]() |
![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari SF90 | ![]() |
1:17.585 | + 0.301 | 42 |
4. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari SF90 | ![]() |
1:17.673 | + 0.389 | 41 |
5. | Max Verstappen | ![]() |
![]() |
Red Bull Racing RB15 | ![]() |
1:18.035 | + 0.751 | 30 |
6. | Romain Grosjean | ![]() |
![]() |
Haas F1 Team VF-19 | ![]() |
1:18.153 | + 0.869 | 42 |
7. | Pierre Gasly | ![]() |
![]() |
Red Bull Racing RB15 | ![]() |
1:18.238 | + 0.954 | 34 |
8. | Kevin Magnussen | ![]() |
![]() |
Haas F1 Team VF-19 | ![]() |
1:18.355 | + 1.071 | 40 |
9. | Carlos Sainz Jr. | ![]() |
![]() |
McLaren F1 Team MCL34 | ![]() |
1:18.658 | + 1.374 | 45 |
10. | Daniil Kvyat | ![]() |
![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda STR14 | ![]() |
1:18.722 | + 1.438 | 40 |
11. | Kimi Räikkönen | ![]() |
![]() |
Alfa Romeo Racing C38 | ![]() |
1:18.727 | + 1.443 | 30 |
12. | Alexander Albon | ![]() |
![]() |
Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda STR14 | ![]() |
1:18.779 | + 1.495 | 44 |
13. | Lance Stroll | ![]() |
![]() |
Racing Point F1 Team RP19 | ![]() |
1:18.839 | + 1.555 | 33 |
14. | Nico Hülkenberg | ![]() |
![]() |
Renault F1 Team RS19 | ![]() |
1:18.861 | + 1.577 | 43 |
15. | Daniel Ricciardo | ![]() |
![]() |
Renault F1 Team RS19 | ![]() |
1:18.934 | + 1.650 | 40 |
16. | Lando Norris | ![]() |
![]() |
McLaren F1 Team MCL34 | ![]() |
1:19.041 | + 1.757 | 43 |
17. | Antonio Giovinazzi | ![]() |
![]() |
Alfa Romeo Racing C38 | ![]() |
1:19.427 | + 2.143 | 37 |
18. | Sergio Pérez | ![]() |
![]() |
Racing Point F1 Team RP19 | ![]() |
1:19.448 | + 2.164 | 40 |
19. | George Russell | ![]() |
![]() |
ROKiT Williams Racing FW42 | ![]() |
1:20.191 | + 2.907 | 38 |
20. | Robert Kubica | ![]() |
![]() |
ROKiT Williams Racing FW42 | ![]() |
1:20.781 | + 3.497 | 23 |
Image via Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport
Richard Bailey
Latest posts by Richard Bailey (see all)
- 2020 F1 Season Review (Blu Ray) - 27 February, 2021
- WTCR: Guerrieri outwits Muller at the Nordschleife - 26 September, 2020
- WTCR: Girolami breaks Nordschleife lap record to claim pole - 25 September, 2020
- WTCR: Hyundai withdraws from Germany round - 24 September, 2020
- WTCR: Ehrlacher leads Lynk & Co podium sweep at Zolder - 13 September, 2020