Spain, FP2: Hamilton beats Bottas in second practice session
Verstappen 3rd, Ricciardo 4th
Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheet in the second practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix, beating team-mate Valtteri Bottas by almost three tenths of a second. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third.
In high temperatures, the Mercedes drivers set the pace in the early part of the session with Hamilton taking P1 with a lap of 1:17.960s on the medium tyre. Bottas slotted into P2, though he was running on hard compound Pirelli tyres but shortly before the half-hour mark Verstappen stole seconds from the Finn as he put in a decent lap on the same compound used by Bottas.
With a third of the session gone, the drivers began to make the move to soft tyres for their qualifying simulations. Bottas was the first to make a bid for eventual top stop with a lap of 1:17.170, but Hamilton was close behind and he crossed the line in 1:16.883. It was a marker that would remain in place for the rest of the session.
Third place initially went to Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo but Verstappen eventually edged the Australian by 0.164s to claim P3. However, the Red Bull driver was still 0.8s adrift of Hamilton’s benchmark.
Haas’ Romain Grosjean continued his good word from the morning session, in which he finished sixth, with P5 behind Ricciardo. The French driver’s ended early, however, when he reported a possible power unit issue during his long run.
Charles Leclerc was sixth for Ferrari ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and the Racing Point of Sergio Pérez. Renault’s Esteban Ocon and AlphaTauri Pierre Gasly finished ninth and tenths respectively.
Lance Stroll finished in 11thplace in the second Racing Point, while Sebastian Vettel finished 12th, almost three tenths of a second behind team-mate Leclerc. Alex Albon was 13th in the second Red Bull, almost eight tenths of a second behind his team-mate Verstappen.
Pos. | Driver | Car | Time | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|
01 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes W11 | 1:16.883 | 37 |
02 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes W11 | 1:17.170 | 38 |
03 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Honda RB16 | 1:17.704 | 33 |
04 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault RS20 | 1:17.868 | 34 |
05 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari VF-20 | 1:18.133 | 29 |
06 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari SF1000 | 1:18.147 | 35 |
07 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren Renault MCL35 | 1:18.214 | 33 |
08 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point Mercedes RP20 | 1:18.293 | 39 |
09 | Esteban Ocon | Renault RS20 | 1:18.303 | 40 |
10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri Honda AT01 | 1:18.312 | 40 |
11 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point Mercedes RP20 | 1:18.357 | 39 |
12 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari SF1000 | 1:18.404 | 36 |
13 | Alex Albon | Red Bull Honda RB16 | 1:18.491 | 35 |
14 | Lando Norris | McLaren Renault MCL35 | 1:18.506 | 38 |
15 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri Honda AT01 | 1:18.642 | 39 |
16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari VF-20 | 1:18.761 | 36 |
17 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo Ferrari C39 | 1:18.900 | 42 |
18 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Ferrari C39 | 1:18.964 | 40 |
19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes FW43 | 1:19.155 | 32 |
20 | George Russell | Williams Mercedes FW43 | 1:19.391 | 38 |