Lewis Hamilton was fastest by two and a half tenths in second practice session ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. The six-times champion continued the domination shown by Mercedes in Barcelona this year by being eight tenths ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The Mercedes duo started their hot laps twenty minutes into the session with Hamilton setting a 17.9 on mediums as Bottas went for the hards early on. Verstappen slotted in between the two on the second run, before Bottas responded following a cool-down lap to regain second while Hamilton went faster.
Hamilton’s advantage was clear on the softs, his qualifying simulations were clearly faster than Bottas and Verstappen. Conditions changed from the morning session, with an increase of 10 degrees Celsius, but that did not seem to diminish Mercedes’ advantage at the front.
Verstappen couldn’t respond to the pace and then dropped to half a second behind the Mercedes overall. That means that the only chance it appears Red Bull has is if Mercedes struggle with the heat in the race again like they did at Silverstone. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo was the only other driver within a second in fourth.
Romain Grosjean continued to show that Haas has some pace this weekend going fifth fastest, one hundredth faster than the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. However, there were concerns for Grosjean, after his session was brought to an early end after he reported a possible power unit problem.
McLaren’s Carlos Sainz was seventh, he did an 18.2 which put him eight-hundredths ahead of the Racing Point of Sergio Perez. The session proving really tight with most of the midfield looking as if they are covered as we have seen all season by about a second.
Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 for Renault and Alpha Tauri. Sebastian Vettel was only twelfth fastest three tenths behind his teammate, while Alex Albon was eight tenths off his teammate in thirteenth.
Both Vettel and Albon needing to find pace if they are going to make it out of Q2 in qualifying, both drivers have struggled to get it together through the final part of qualifying this weekend.
Lando Norris was fourteenth ahead of George Russell, the Williams driver complaining about a lack of front grip. Norris’s pace a little bit of a surprise given McLaren’s strong start to the season, he was around four-tenths behind Sainz.
There was no obvious sign of the extreme tyre wear that led to Mercedes being beaten by Verstappen at the last race at Silverstone, despite the high temperatures at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. But it a thing the teams will be watching closely throughout the weekend.
