Spanish Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Hamilton tops the timesheets, Alpine in top form

The first 20 minutes

The drivers appeared on the track, just like the wind, a factor that destabilized some cars in turn 9 in particular.

Several rumble strips have been added in certain corners and are challenging the aerodynamic components of the single-seaters. If we could see Sebastian Vettel lose a carbon element in Free Practice 1, this time it’s Carlos Sainz who saw one of his appendages fly off in the last corner. Yuki Tsunoda also tested the track limit by climbing a rumble strip at turn 9, a climb that, along with the impacts on the floor, cut the engine of his AlphaTauri.

During this session, several single-seaters are painted with a special paint revealing the airflow on the bodywork. Indeed, the Barcelona circuit is well known to the teams and they have comparison elements dating back to the Winter Tests of 2020.

All drivers practiced on the track with soft tires (red), and in this game, Lewis Hamilton managed to set a first time of 1:18.170, ahead of his teammate (+0.139) and Max Verstappen (+0.615).

At mid-session.

Struggling during Free Practice 1, the Alpine cars of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon managed to find a good pace, just four tenths off Lewis Hamilton’s time. The French cars were briefly sandwiched between the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

After 30 minutes of driving, the AlphaTauri cars manage to position themselves well in the timing standings. They are ranked 6th and 7th respectively, less than half a second behind Lewis Hamilton. Gasly and Tsunoda hope to regain big points this weekend.

With 20 minutes left in the session, Hamilton still held the best time of 1:18.170, ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, both Alpines, and both AlphaTauris. There was little change in lap times on the track, as the drivers were doing long relay simulations.

The last 20 minutes

The Red Bulls encountered problems with overheating of the soft tires during this session. Maintaining the right tire temperatures will be difficult this weekend, the cars will suffer from understeer.

After 11 laps on soft tires, we could notice a large blistering on the rear right tire of Sergio Perez’s Red Bull. Considering the lack of grip on the soft tires, many teams should try to qualify for Q3 using medium tires.

The timetable