Until the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League, Lewis Hamilton led a highly competitive second practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix. The session saw five different cars within a quarter of a second at the top of the leaderboard. Hamilton’s lap, set later in the session, was over six tenths faster than the benchmark time in FP2 at Barcelona in 2023. This represented a significant improvement for Mercedes compared to last year. His time of 1m13.264s included the fastest final sector and allowed him to secure the top spot by a mere 0.022s over Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.
Lando Norris, who had set the pace in FP1, finished third-fastest, just 0.033s behind Hamilton. Pierre Gasly impressed with a fourth-place finish for Alpine, while championship leader Max Verstappen rounded out the top five.
Verstappen, who conducted a test in Red Bull’s 2022 car earlier in the week, reported some handling issues with his RB20 during FP2. Despite this, he was able to stay within striking distance of the McLarens and Sainz’s Ferrari during long-run simulations at the end of the session. Verstappen used the C2 medium tires, while Norris, McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, and Sainz opted for the softer C3s.
Mercedes drivers Hamilton and George Russell focused on long-run laps, with both lapping in the high-1m19s and low-1m20s. Alpine drivers Gasly and Esteban Ocon expressed concerns about their performance at Barcelona, but they ended the day with both cars in the top 10. Gasly’s impressive effort was supported by Ocon’s ninth-fastest time.
Sergio Perez had a challenging session, conducting a second stint on mediums before attempting a qualifying simulation run. However, he could only manage 13th-fastest, behind Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg. Aston Martin also struggled, with Fernando Alonso just one hundredth of a second ahead of Perez.
The Red Bull cars had a disappointing session, finishing 15th and 16th. Yuki Tsunoda, slightly faster than teammate Daniel Ricciardo, complained about the car’s handling during his long run. The Williams cars, which switched to soft tires early, were the slowest in FP2. Alex Albon finished 19th, 1.543s off the pace, with teammate Logan Sargeant further behind.