Hamilton Leads FP2 ahead of Spanish GP

Lewis Hamilton went quickest in Friday’s afternoon practice session in Barcelona with the Briton finishing just under a tenth of a second ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas to hand Mercedes its second one-two of the day.

In the morning session, the Silver Arrows finished almost a second clear of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen but while Hamilton and Bottas again outpaced their main rivals in the afternoon the gap was much smaller, with Kimi Räikkönen again quickest for the Italian outfit, 0.310s behind Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel a further tenth of a second back in fourth place.

Red Bull Racing, which like Mercedes has brought a major upgrade to Spain, was again closer to the top two teams in the afternoon. In the morning Max Verstappen was fourth, a tenth behind Vettel, and in the afternoon the Dutchman kept up the pressure, finishing just over two tenths of a second behind the German. Daniel Ricciardo again finished marginally behind team-mate Verstappen, his time of 1:21.585 being just over a tenth behind the Dutchman.

Red Bull engine supplier Renault finished just behind their customer team, with Nico Hulkenberg finishing a tenth off Ricciardo. Team-mate Jolyon Palmer, who took over at the wheel from test driver Sergey Sirotkin, was eighth with a time of 1:21.992. Hulkenberg was the last driver to get within a second of Hamilton’s pace-setting time.

Felipe Massa was ninth for Williams, while Carlos Sainz Jr completed the top 10, having brought out the red flags an hour into the session when a heavy hit on the kerbs left debris scattered across the track at Turn 9.

After a difficult morning session which saw Fernando Alonso’s car grind to a halt on his first lap, McLaren saw both cars run in the second session, though the Spaniard had to wait until half an hour into the session to get going due to an engine replacement being undertaken on his car.

Stoffel Vandoorne completed 36 laps during the session, posting a best time of 1:22.693s, 1.891s behind Hamilton. Alonso, however, finished the session in 20^th place with a time 3.275s adrift of first place.

2017 Spanish Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:20.802s – 39
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:20.892s 0.090s 38
3 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:21.112s 0.310s 34
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:21.220s 0.418s 36
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:21.438s 0.636s 29
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/ 1:21.585s 0.783s 35
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:21.687s 0.885s 40
8 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:21.992s 1.190s 43
9 Felipe Massa Williams 1:22.015s 1.213s 38
10 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:22.265s 1.463s 34
11 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:22.371s 1.569s 36
12 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:22.520s 1.718s 37
13 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:22.693s 1.891s 36
14 Sergio Perez Force India 1:22.722s 1.920s 32
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:23.007s 2.205s 32
16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:23.082s 2.280s 37
17 Lance Stroll Williams 1:23.221s 2.419s 35
18 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:23.236s 2.434s 27
19 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber 1:23.599s 2.797s 31
20 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:24.077s 3.275s 21

FIA