The Mercedes-AMG team once again trounced the field as Friday practice for this weekend’s Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix drew to a close.
After being pipped to the top of the timesheets in FP1 by teammate Valtteri Bottas, this time it was Lewis Hamilton who turned the tables to claim the fastest overall time of the 90-minute session. The championship leader finished just over a quarter of a second quicker than the Finn, albeit with a time that was one-tenth of a second shy of Bottas’ FP1 effort.
Repeating his form from the morning’s session, Max Verstappen was the fastest of the non-Mercedes runners in third, however the Dutchman was a hefty eight-tenths of a second adrift of Hamilton’s benchmark time. There was a similar gap to his teammate Alexander Albon, who was a disappointing P13 in the session thanks to a mistake on his qualifying-style run at Turn 5.
Having languished in P18 in FP1, Daniel Ricciardo showed that the Renault has plenty of potential by claiming the fourth-fastest time in FP2, less than two-tenths slower than Verstappen’s best lap.
Romain Grosjean proved that his FP1 pace was no fluke, hustling his Haas Ferrari to fifth-quickest in the American team’s most competitive showing of the season. The Frenchman appeared bewildered by the team’s marked improvement in form, although his session was later cut short in the closing minutes when a mechanical issue reared its head.
His teammate Kevin Magnussen was unable to unlock the same sort of one-lap pace, languishing in P16 and six-tenths of a second adrift.
Ferrari found itself outperformed by one of its customer teams, with Charles Leclerc only able to manage sixth-fastest. Having run close to the Monégasque driver in FP1, teammate Sebastian Vettel was twelfth on the timesheets – albeit just a quarter of a second slower in a tightly bunched midfield.
Carlos Sainz got to grips with his new McLaren MCL35 chassis to go seventh-fastest ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez, with Renault’s Esteban Ocon and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly completing the top ten.
FORMULA 1 ARAMCO GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2020 – FREE PRACTICE SESSION 2 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Driver | Team / Entry | Time | Gap | Laps | ||||
1. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
![]() |
Mercedes-AMG F1 Team W11 | ![]() |
1:16.883 | 37 | |
2. | Valtteri Bottas | ![]() |
![]() |
Mercedes-AMG F1 Team W11 | ![]() |
1:17.170 | + 0.287 | 38 |
3. | Max Verstappen | ![]() |
![]() |
Red Bull Racing RB16 | ![]() |
1:17.704 | + 0.821 | 33 |
4. | Daniel Ricciardo | ![]() |
![]() |
Renault F1 Team R.S.20 | ![]() |
1:17.868 | + 0.985 | 34 |
5. | Romain Grosjean | ![]() |
![]() |
Haas F1 Team VF-20 | ![]() |
1:18.133 | + 1.250 | 29 |
6. | Charles Leclerc | ![]() |
![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari SF1000 | ![]() |
1:18.147 | + 1.264 | 35 |
7. | Carlos Sainz Jr. | ![]() |
![]() |
McLaren F1 Team MCL35 | ![]() |
1:18.214 | + 1.331 | 33 |
8. | Sergio Pérez | ![]() |
![]() |
Racing Point F1 Team RP20 | ![]() |
1:18.293 | + 1.410 | 39 |
9. | Esteban Ocon | ![]() |
![]() |
Renault F1 Team R.S.20 | ![]() |
1:18.303 | + 1.420 | 40 |
10. | Pierre Gasly | ![]() |
![]() |
Scuderia AlfaTauri AT01 | ![]() |
1:18.312 | + 1.429 | 40 |
11. | Lance Stroll | ![]() |
![]() |
Racing Point F1 Team RP20 | ![]() |
1:18.357 | + 1.474 | 39 |
12. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
![]() |
Scuderia Ferrari SF1000 | ![]() |
1:18.404 | + 1.521 | 36 |
13. | Alexander Albon | ![]() |
![]() |
Red Bull Racing RB16 | ![]() |
1:18.491 | + 1.608 | 35 |
14. | Lando Norris | ![]() |
![]() |
McLaren F1 Team MCL35 | ![]() |
1:18.506 | + 1.623 | 38 |
15. | Daniil Kvyat | ![]() |
![]() |
Scuderia AlfaTauri AT01 | ![]() |
1:18.642 | + 1.759 | 39 |
16. | Kevin Magnussen | ![]() |
![]() |
Haas F1 Team VF-20 | ![]() |
1:18.761 | + 1.878 | 36 |
17. | Kimi Räikkönen | ![]() |
![]() |
Alfa Romeo Racing C39 | ![]() |
1:18.900 | + 2.017 | 42 |
18. | Antonio Giovinazzi | ![]() |
![]() |
Alfa Romeo Racing C39 | ![]() |
1:18.964 | + 2.081 | 40 |
19. | Nicholas Latifi | ![]() |
![]() |
Williams Racing FW43 | ![]() |
1:19.155 | + 2.272 | 32 |
20. | George Russell | ![]() |
![]() |
Williams Racing FW43 | ![]() |
1:19.351 | + 2.508 | 38 |
Image via Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
Richard Bailey
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