Livefeed
Spanish GP practice as it happened
Follow all the action from the Spanish Grand Prix as it happens with our minute-by-minute coverage.
Gambling problem? Call 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-GAMBLER (AS/CO/IN/LA/NC/OH/VA) 21+, (KY) 18+
By: Stephen Lickorish, Jake Boxall-Legge
Summary
|
|
Leaderboard
|
Status: Stopped
And here's your session report. Despite earlier messages to the contrary, you should definitely read it - as it was a really exciting session and not at all dull: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/spanish-gp-fp2-report/6504199/
So, it's Hamilton from Bottas in that session - a reverse of FP1. Leclerc was third, ahead of Ocon and Alonso, with Gasly and Tsunoda in sixth and seventh ahead of Sainz. Verstappen and Perez completed the top 10.
We're into the final few minutes of the session now, and both Hamilton and Gasly are the highest-lapping drivers with 29 a piece. Perez is lowest with 20 so far.
If we combined the best sectors, we'd have a 1m17.945s - taking Hamilton's first sector, Bottas' second, and Leclerc's third.
"How are the tyres, how is the balance?" asks Fernando Alonso's race engineer. "Oversteering," comes the curt reply.
Bottas had his long-run on the softs paused, and he's now taken on the mediums to do some further exploration.
The Mercs are running around in the low 1m23s, which Leclerc and Alonso were in the same ball-park. Gasly was in the high 1m23s last time around, with Ocon on mediums in the mid-1m24s.
It feels like pre-season testing now, with drivers pounding around the Barcelona circuit on race runs. The only thing that would complete the experience is the dreaded Burger Stall of Gloom...
Kimi Raikkonen's Alfa is currently doused in flow-vis paint to assess some bargeboard and floor aero movements. Otherwise, it's quite quiet now as we waltz to the race-style runs.
Tsunoda now goes P7, just a slither off Gasly's best lap so far, so his earlier hop-skip-jump over the Campsa kerb hasn't affected him too much.
Some improvements still happening out there - Gasly went up to P6 before coming into the pits, while Ricciardo posts a better lap but can only get P14.
Verstappen was on a quicker lap, but got caught out at Turn 10 and had a severe case of the wiggles - carrying in too much pace.
Alonso wedges himself between Ocon and Sainz to go P5, which points at a very close midfield battle this weekend.
Ocon then went up to fourth, with Sainz moving up to fifth - so it's all change as we approach the end of the first half-hour.
Gasly now gets up to third as the field all takes to the soft tyre running, but is quickly nudged down a spot by Ferrari's Leclerc.
The Aston duo blasts into the top five on softs, with Vettel in fourth 0.2s ahead of Stroll in fifth.
Now bearing soft tyres, Bottas does a 1m18.309s to go a tenth faster than his best - but Hamilton on the same compound logs a 1m18.170s to go top.
There's a replay of Tsunoda running over the Turn 9 kerbs, knocking out some fillings and giving his AlphaTauri car a few problems to boot. "The car switched off," he says.
Ricciardo gets himself up to P11, two tenths off Norris, and displaces Giovinazzi in the meantime. Stroll, Sainz, Raikkonen, Vettel, Latifi, Russell, Schumacher and Mazepin complete the order.
After the initial flurry of runs, our top 10 is: Bottas, Hamilton, Verstappen, Alonso, Gasly, Ocon, Perez, Leclerc, Tsunoda and Norris.
Verstappen remains third, but now gets into the 1m18s with a 1m18.785s. That puts him further ahead of the Alpine duo, Perez and Gasly.
'Twas a bit of debris shed from the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr, who went wide at Campsa and lost some bodywork to the sausage kerb.
Hamilton has another tilt, half a tenth off Bottas' best as it stands. Verstappen is a further half-second behind the Mercedes duo.
Bottas raises the bar even further and logs a 1m18.419s lap - just under a tenth quicker than his best this morning.
Hamilton then drops into second, going 0.2s slower than Bottas, but then Verstappen logs a 1m19.041s to go quickest on mediums.
Schumacher evokes memories of the 1982 German World Cup team with an excellent save, catching his errant Haas at Turn 2. Well held.
Trending
Latest news
Long Beach IMSA: Bourdais spins then tops FP2 for Cadillac
Long Beach
Long Beach IMSA: Bourdais spins then tops FP2 for Cadillac
Latvala: Neuville, Evans tied for WRC Croatia lead "something special"
Rally Croatia
Latvala: Neuville, Evans tied for WRC Croatia lead "something special"
Streets of Long Beach receive changes ahead of the IMSA, IndyCar doubleheader
Long Beach
Streets of Long Beach receive changes ahead of the IMSA, IndyCar doubleheader
Latest videos
F1 Teams Concerns about the 2026 Regulations Changes
30:34
F1 Teams Concerns about the 2026 Regulations Changes
F1 2024 Chinese Grand Prix Preview – Everything You Need To Know
23:58
F1 2024 Chinese Grand Prix Preview – Everything You Need To Know
The 2025 F1 Calendar – Does it Make Sense?
19:45
The 2025 F1 Calendar – Does it Make Sense?
Top Comments