Spanish GP: Hamilton tops FP2 as Ferrari closes in

Hamilton, who had headed FP1 by 0.029s from Bottas, was almost a tenth up on the Finn this time, ending the day with a best lap of 1m20.802s.

Mercedes' main rival Ferrari was again adrift, albeit closer than it had been in the morning session, Kimi Raikkonen leading the team's effort with a time three tenths off the pace.

Inside the opening 10 minutes of the session, Ferrari was first of the top teams to send its drivers out on track – and duly took over the top spot with a 1m23.143s lap from Raikkonen, set on medium tyres.

Teammate Vettel had a slide on his first proper effort, however, ending up 1.6s off, and the German could only move to within a second of Raikkonen before the pair ended their first runs.

Likewise, there was pace disparity early on at Mercedes. Bottas needed just one flying lap to dethrone Raikkonen, going less than a tenth quicker with a 1m23.062s lap, while Hamilton slotted in behind the Ferraris after a big slide at the chicane during his first proper effort.

He them improved to clear Vettel, but ended the run more than half a second off his teammate.

With an hour left in the session, soft tyres made their first appearance of the weekend on Vettel's car, the German stringing together three purple sectors with his first flyer for a 1m21.220s lap – three tenths faster than Hamilton's FP1 benchmark.

But Raikkonen was a tenth quicker with his effort, before the two Mercedes drivers vaulted ahead, Hamilton leading Bottas by 0.090s with a 1m20.802s effort.

None of the four frontrunners then improved with their second push laps and all then focused on long runs for the rest of the session.

However, Raikkonen's programme was interrupted briefly when he was called into the pits with what was described as a suspected engine problem. He was not asked to pull over in the pit box, however, and was instead sent back out.

He completed the session seemingly without further trouble, although did have a run-in with the Force India of Sergio Perez at Turn 5, trying to pass the Mexican round the outside and being forced to back out. He subsequently radioed in that he had been "pushed off".

Teammate Vettel, who ended the session a tenth behind Raikkonen, had a late moment at Turn 4, a snap forcing him to drive out of the gravel.

Like Ferrari, Red Bull was likewise closer to the pace in the afternoon session. Last year's Spanish GP winner Max Verstappen was again ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo, a tenth up on the Aussie and 0.636s off Hamilton's lap.

Verstappen did have a somewhat scrappy session, however, his biggest incident in FP2 a slide and trip through the gravel at Turn 9 early on – which was down to a gust of wind, according to the team.

An impressive Renault was close behind the Red Bulls, seventh-placed Nico Hulkenberg ending the session as the last driver within a second of Hamilton.

Teammate Jolyon Palmer, who had sat out FP1 for reserve driver Sergey Sirotkin, was eighth.

Felipe Massa was ninth for Williams, while Carlos Sainz made up the top 10, having caused a brief red flag an hour in as his Toro Rosso shed some debris after running over the kerbs at Turn 9.

It was mixed fortunes at McLaren again, with Stoffel Vandoorne enjoying a reasonable session in 13th while Fernando Alonso wound up 20th and last.

Alonso, who was left without any meaningful running in FP1 after an early engine failure, only emerged out of the pits half an hour into the session – and had to wait a bit longer for an actual proper run.

En route to clocking in a session-low 21 laps, he ranted on the radio: "The engine feels good. Much slower than before. Amazing."

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	39	1'20.802
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	38	1'20.892	0.090
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	34	1'21.112	0.310
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	36	1'21.220	0.418
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	29	1'21.438	0.636
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	35	1'21.585	0.783
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	40	1'21.687	0.885
8	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	43	1'21.992	1.190
9	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	38	1'22.015	1.213
10	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Renault	34	1'22.265	1.463
11	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	36	1'22.371	1.569
12	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	37	1'22.520	1.718
13	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Honda	36	1'22.693	1.891
14	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	32	1'22.722	1.920
15	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	32	1'23.007	2.205
16	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	37	1'23.082	2.280
17	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	35	1'23.221	2.419
18	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Renault	27	1'23.236	2.434
19	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	Ferrari	31	1'23.599	2.797
20	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	21	1'24.077	3.275