Lewis Hamilton finished top of the leaderboard on the first day of the Spanish Grand Prix, setting the fastest time in the second free practice session, closely followed by Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.
Earlier in the day, Norris had led the first practice, but uncertainties about the overall rankings persisted into FP2, as teams like Ferrari, Mercedes, and Alpine had not yet utilised soft tyres.
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The session began actively, with most drivers opting for medium or hard tyres. Logan Sargeant had a close call but managed to control his Williams, which matched teammate Alex Albon’s car spec.
Max Verstappen experienced understeer in his RB20, describing the car as lacking responsiveness. Meanwhile, George Russell initially led after clocking a time of 1m 14.089s on medium tyres.
As the session progressed and drivers switched to soft tyres, Sainz briefly claimed the fastest time before Hamilton surpassed him by just 0.02 seconds with a lap of 1m 13.264s, a lead he maintained into the race simulations.
Sainz secured second place, with Norris rounding out the top three. Pierre Gasly impressed in fourth for Alpine, ahead of Verstappen in fifth.
Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri followed in sixth and seventh, with Russell in eighth, demonstrating a mix among the top four teams within the first eight positions. Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas completed the top ten for Alpine and Kick Sauber, respectively.
Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg ranked 11th and 12th for Haas, with Sergio Perez in 13th after a delayed switch to soft tyres. Fernando Alonso took 14th place, 11 years since his last F1 win at this circuit.
Red Bull teammates Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo were 15th and 16th, followed by Zhou Guanyu in 17th for Kick Sauber, who reverted to an older chassis. Lance Stroll and the Williams duo of Albon and Sargeant finished in the last positions.
Spanish GP FP2 Results
2024 Spanish Grand Prix FP2, 21 June 2024
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