Spain – FP2: Hamilton Comfortably Tops the Time Sheets

The reigning world champion lifted his Mercedes to the top of the standings with a time of 1:26.852, on the softest tires offered by Pirelli this weekend, namely the medium tire. He is ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari by 0.4 seconds and his teammate Nico Rosberg by more than 0.7 seconds. It should be noted that the German driver of the W05, the fastest this morning, encountered downshifting problems during his qualifying simulation.

Lewis Hamilton also set the benchmark at the start of the session on hard tires with a time more than 1 second faster than the rest of the competition, with Nico Rosberg trailing at 1.249 seconds just ahead of Vettel, only 0.010 seconds behind the number 5 Mercedes.

Behind this very traditional leading trio, Kimi Räikkönen secures 4th position, more than 9 tenths behind.

Above the one-second gap, we find the rest of the pack, with the Russian Daniil Kvyat in 5th position, who must certainly be regaining confidence after a complicated start to the season. On the other side of the Red Bull garage, however, the situation is still delicate for Daniel Ricciardo, who had to wait for long minutes before he could set off, due to yet another engine block change. Struggling with his allotted quota, the Australian should not be penalized, however, as he reportedly ran this morning with an old block.

Some progress in overall performance should still be noted for the French engine manufacturer, with Max Verstappen in 6th and Carlos Sainz Jr in 9th position. However, we must wait for the rest of the weekend to comment on the success of this new version of the power unit…

To complete the Top 10, we find the classic duo with the two Williams of Bottas and Massa, respectively 8th and 10th, slightly behind in the hierarchy.

Nice surprise for the McLaren-Honda team with Jenson Button placing his McLaren in 7th position, 1.642 seconds behind. The local star of this Catalan weekend follows suit: Fernando Alonso achieving the 11th fastest time, just a tenth behind his teammate. McLaren, in its new livery, might thus raise its ambitions, aiming for its first points of the season.

The second half of the field is quite clear with the following hierarchy: Lotus ahead of Sauber and Force India. Romain Grosjean wins the day’s entertainment prize with his engine cover shattering on the long start/finish straight. After relinquishing his seat to Jolyon Palmer this morning, the Frenchman lost more precious minutes in the progress of his program… Nevertheless, he finishes just ahead of Pastor Maldonado in 12th position.

Finally, at the bottom of the leaderboard, we find the two Manor drivers who continue on their own path, with Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi being more than 5 seconds off the reference time…

This second training session of the day took place in particularly pleasant weather conditions, with 29 degrees in the air and over 50 degrees on the track. However, this track is expected to warm up further over the weekend according to weather forecasts.

These conditions enhance the abrasive nature of the Circuit de Catalunya. Kimi Räikkönen notably complained on his radio about a lack of grip during his first run on hard tires. The wind, as in turn 3 this afternoon, could also disrupt the drivers’ performances tomorrow and Sunday.