FP2: Hamilton leads FP2 in Barcelona, topping Sainz and Norris
Red Bull Racing/Red Bull Content Pool
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in Free Practice 2 at the Spanish Grand Prix, clocking a 1m 13.264s lap to edge out home favorite Carlos Sainz by two hundredths of a second. Lando Norris rounded out the top three, showing strong pace in his McLaren.
Check out the results of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend in Barcelona, including the race results, qualifying times, and practice sessionsInitially, Lando Norris had been the fastest during the first practice session, but FP2 saw more competitive runs as teams tested soft tires. An early moment of drama involved Logan Sargeant nearly losing the rear of his Williams, although he managed to recover.
Mercedes' George Russell was quickest on medium tires during the opening stages before the switch to soft compounds saw Sainz and then Hamilton climb to the top. Max Verstappen experienced understeer issues, reporting, “This car doesn’t bite,” and placed fifth behind Pierre Gasly’s impressive fourth for Alpine.
The rest of the top ten saw Charles Leclerc in sixth, McLaren's Oscar Piastri in seventh, and Russell dropping to eighth. Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas completed the top ten in their Alpine and Kick Sauber, respectively.
Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg of Haas finished 11th and 12th, while a delayed run on soft tyres left Sergio Perez in 13th. Fernando Alonso was 14th in the Aston Martin, followed by RB pair Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo.
Zhou Guanyu, reverting to an older chassis, was 17th for Kick Sauber. Lance Stroll took 18th in the second Aston Martin. Williams duo Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant ended the session at the back.
Teams will now analyze Friday's data as they prepare for the final practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday, with FP3 starting at 1230 local time.
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