Spain – Free Practice 2: Rosberg escapes, Renault unleashes!

This morning, during the first free practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix, only the Ferraris had fitted the soft compound tires offered by Pirelli.

This afternoon, all the drivers, except for Marcus Ericsson in his Sauber, will have tested these components. The tires will therefore remain the main issue for the teams this weekend and even more so for Renault. Indeed, after 10 minutes of the session, Jolyon Palmer had to deal with a flat on his left rear tire. Without any consequence for the driver and his single-seater, this repetitive phenomenon for the French team remains a significant source of concern.

RED FLAG: Session suspended as @JolyonPalmer suffers deflated left-rear tyre #FP2 #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/uI6rvx30Au

— Formula 1 (@F1) 13 mai 2016

On soft tires, the Mercedes cars of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton are much more at ease than this morning. The German sets the benchmark time at 1:23.922, just ahead of Kimi Räikkönen and more than 7 tenths in front of his British teammate.

On their home turf, the Spanish drivers, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso, stand out. The Toro Rosso driver clocks an impressive 5th time, leaving his new teammate Daniil Kvyat more than a second behind in the 15th spot, while the McLaren driver secured a place in the Top 10 once again, which is encouraging for the rest of the weekend.

We end #FP2 with another of our fav @carlosainz rubber lay pics, as he finishes P5 (his fav num!) & @Dany_Kvyat P15 pic.twitter.com/kyQLcRgAmc

— Toro Rosso (@ToroRossoSpy) 13 mai 2016

On the disappointed side, Haas driver Romain Grosjean was still complaining about the visibly incomprehensible behavior of his car. Another difficult weekend is in store for the Frenchman.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION – END OF #FP2

Mercedes battle back 💪
Hat-tip to @carlosainz 👌#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/gAnPNTsXkd

— Formula 1 (@F1) 13 mai 2016