Spanish GP: Hamilton quickest in quiet second practice

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was quickest in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, with a time of 1:13.264s putting him two hundredths of a second ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz on Friday.

Having set the pace in FP1, Lando Norris was third fastest in the late afternoon sunshine ahead of Alpine's Pierre Gasly, while Max Verstappen was only fifth having complained of the Red Bull being 'loose' during the hour.

His team mate Sergio Perez had limited running and ended FP2 in 13th having spent most of his time in the pits. Williams' Logan Sargeant had a slight scare at the start of the session, but survived without any damage.

• 2024 Spanish Grand Prix - Free Practice 2 results

Sparking sunshine and bright blue skies over the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya welcomed the 20 drivers back to the track for the second practice for the Spanish GP, after Lando Norris had topped the times for McLaren in FP1. Track temperature had fallen a little from 48C to 43C since the end of the earlier session.

First out on track was Pierre Gasly in the upgraded Alpine, closely pursued by Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton. Soon the place was busy with drivers completing their first laps on fresh mediums, just Oscar Piastri and Zhou Guanyu opting to start on the hard compound while Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz were the last to stir.

George Russell established an early residency at the top of the timing screens on 1:14.089s, a tenth ahead of Norris who had a similar margin in hand over Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes. Verstappen wasn't long in laying claim to fourth place despite complaining about some initial loose handling on the Red Bull, putting him ahead of the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

The cars soon completed their first run and headed back to pit lane, with Logan Sargeant slowest of anyone having had a bit of a wobble on his maiden run. He had nearly lost the back of the Williams and skimmed the outside of his rear wheel in the gravel, but averted disaster and was able to continue. He was subsequently first out for the second stint after switching to softs for qualifying runs.

Others soon followed suit, including Sainz, Leclerc and Norris, giving fans an opportunity to judge the relative standings between teams on a traditional-style track. The Ferraris immediately jumped to the top with Sainz setting a new benchmark of 1:13.286s, but Norris promptly inserted himself between the two Prancing Horses. There were also some strong efforts from Sauber's Valtteri Bottas and Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg.

Verstappen's run looked promising but in the end he lost time in the middle sector and it was only enough for P3 behind Sainz and Norris. Hamilton then went ahead of Sainz by 0.022s. By contrast Russell's flying lap was messy and only good enough for P6, and immediately pipped by Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren who went a tenth quicker.

There was still a little more time to come with Gasly edging ahead of Verstappen for fourth. Running out of sequence after a lengthy delay in the Red Bull garage, Sergio Perez made a late run on the softs but could only improve to P13, eight tenths off Hamilton's top time. Ferrari had also been working on Leclerc's car, and he subsequently improved to sixth to go ahead of Piastri and Russell.

Soon the track was quiet again, and then it was time for the teams to turn back to conducting longer distance race simulations. Some drivers - like Russell and Hamilton, and Alex Albon in the Williams - continued to run on the soft compound to check degradation on heavy fuel loads. Verstappen had a minor run-off at turn 1 and Norris took too much kerb and crunched the floor of the MCl38, but there were no changes to the top laps by the time the chequered flag came out to bring the day to a peaceful conclusion.

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