F1 News

Lewis Hamilton finishes fastest in FP2 for the Spanish Grand Prix

Five different teams in the top five: Hamilton tops remarkably close FP2

21 June at 17:00
  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Lewis Hamilton finished fastest in the second free practice session, which saw five different teams finish inside the top five. The weekend looks set to feature a tense battle between Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes, as the front-runners all seem to be well in the mix in Barcelona. Hamilton pipped Sainz's fastest time by 0.022 seconds, with Lando Norris less than a tenth behind as well in third. Sergio Perez finished 13th.

How FP2 happened in Spain

The second free practice started in the wake of the news Mercedes have contacted the police over an anonymous email suggesting the team were sabotaging Lewis Hamilton. After the first 10 minutes, both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were in the top three places of the timing sheet, with Lando Norris sandwiched in between on the medium tyres.

All eyes were on Ferrari after Charles Leclerc's particularly poor FP1 session. This weekend in Barcelona, the Italian team will be fitted with updates to increase the rear downforce. Just prior to the halfway point, Sainz went fastest, and Leclerc sat in P3 as the soft tyres came on. The qualifying simulations on soft tyres provided an insight into just how close the top teams are. 

The top three were separated by just 0.055 seconds. Pierre Gasly raised some more question marks by setting the fourth fastest time. Verstappen came two-tenths down on Hamilton's time, with Leclerc slightly behind in P6. Oscar Piastri struggled a bit more than his teammate and finished 7th. Sergio Perez, who has failed to escape Q1 in the last two Grands Prix weeks, didn't get a final run on the soft tyre. Perez finished 13th fastest, behind both Haas cars.