Spanish GP: Lewis Hamilton tops tight FP2 in Barcelona as multi-team fight emerges

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton in action in Barcelona

Lewis Hamilton went fastest in FP2 at the Spanish Grand Prix, as a tight fight emerged between multiple teams at the top of the field on Friday.

Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris both lapped within half a tenth of the Mercedes driver in second practice, as Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was two tenths further back in fourth place.

Spanish Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton tops FP2 as drivers tackle Barcelona

The drivers looked for as much time on track as possible in FP2, with most of the teams bringing plenty of upgrades with them to Barcelona, as is traditional, given the circuit’s status as a true all-round test of the cars.

After Oliver Bearman had another hour of running for Haas in FP1, Nico Hulkenberg took back his regular cockpit in time for second practice in Spain.

After the green light, the mediums were the tyre of choice early on as McLaren and Mercedes showed up as early pace-setters, with George Russell’s 1:14.089 a tenth quicker than Lando Norris in the early stages.

Logan Sargeant, whose Williams was the same spec as Alex Albon with new parts on his car, avoided the gravel on the exit of Turn 2 as he ran slightly wide early on.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen came onto team radio to explain that his Red Bull doesn’t “bite” in the way that he would like, pitting for a change of wing as he looked to bring his RB20 more to his liking.

But as ever in FP2, the true test of the drivers, cars and where the pecking order may lie would come in the qualifying simulations on the soft tyres.

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A flurry of fast times saw Lewis Hamilton then go fastest on a 1:13.264 on soft rubber, with Carlos Sainz and Norris both within half a tenth of the Mercedes driver on their initial flying laps.

Verstappen was two tenths down in his Red Bull in fourth, but that soon became fifth as Pierre Gasly put in a fast lap time in his Alpine, only 0.179s behind Hamilton’s benchmark.

The front-runners’ team-mates were not quite in such close proximity however, with Sergio Perez half a second down on Verstappen’s time, Russell 0.458s behind Hamilton, Oscar Piastri three tenths off Norris and Charles Leclerc a similar gap behind Sainz.

Long runs took over for the final 20 minutes of the session, meaning lap time improvements were not forthcoming, but a deviation in tyre strategies were in play as the teams gathered as much data as possible on Friday.

Another practice hour will come on Saturday, however, before the drivers’ one-lap pace is properly put to the test in qualifying on Saturday.

Spanish Grand Prix 2024: FP2 classification

1 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes 1:13.264
2 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari +0.022
3 Lando NORRIS McLaren +0.055
4 Pierre GASLY Alpine +0.179
5 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull +0.240
6 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +0.333
7 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +0.358
8 George RUSSELL Mercedes +0.458
9 Esteban OCON Alpine +0.502
10 Valtteri BOTTAS Kick Sauber +0.660
11 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas +0.757
12 Nico HULKENBERG Haas +0.789
13 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull +0.817
14 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +0.827
15 Yuki TSUNODA RB +0.947
16 Daniel RICCIARDO RB +0.993
17 ZHOU Guanyu Kick Sauber +1.081
18 Lance STROLL Aston Martin +1.138
19 Alexander ALBON Williams +1.543
20 Logan SARGEANT Williams +1.806

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