F1 Spanish GP: Verstappen heads Alonso in FP2

At the start of the 60-minute session, AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries set the first-place benchmark at 1m17.918s during the opening laps using the prototype compound construction set to become standard across Pirelli’s range from the upcoming British GP, which several other runners sampled early on too.

But Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon all then cycled through to temporarily head the pack following their first laps out of the pits – the field at this stage spread across the hard and mediums already in use for Pirelli since the start of the season.

At the five-minute mark, Verstappen then popped in ahead with a new leading time using the C1 prototype hard tyres before he was shuffled back by the Ferrari drivers, unusually, running the softs from the start.

With both SF-23 now running Ferrari’s updated sidepods, home hero Sainz posted a new benchmark on the red-walled rubber at 1m14.999s, as team-mate Leclerc slotted in 0.601s behind in second.

The red pair returned to the pits before running again on the softs at the end of the first 10 minutes, with Sainz going now faster and Leclerc closing to 0.223s behind.

Verstappen then reappeared on the mediums and forged ahead at the 15-minute mark, his 1m14.968s getting him ahead of Sainz despite only heading him in the opening sector.

After a short lull in action, Ferrari sent its drivers out again on the softs for qualifying simulation effort, with Sainz leading the way and blasting ahead of Verstappen’s previous best with a 1m14.274s.

But that lead only lasted a few moments as Leclerc headed Sainz in the second and third sectors and moved ahead on a 1m14.246s.

Then came Verstappen’s first run on the softs and the world champion’s 1m13.907s reclaimed the top spot with 25 minutes completed – good enough to lead Leclerc by 0.339s.

Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-23

Photo by: Jake Grant / Motorsport Images

Soon, though, Verstappen was instead leading Nico Hulkenberg as the Haas driver slotted into second, 0.270s behind the Red Bull and with the then quickest time in the first sector – Verstappen having dominated the final two thirds of the lap.

Just after the session had passed its halfway point, Alonso shuffled Hulkenberg back as he moved into second, just 0.170s slower than Verstappen and with the best time in the final sector.

A few minutes later, Sergio Perez moved up to fourth with his first softs flier, while by now Ocon had also moved the Ferrari drivers further down the order as he took fifth.

The field then switched the typical long running race-data gathering exercises, with the top order preserved and Leclerc and Sainz moved down to sixth and seventh.

Then came George Russell, who had had an early trip through the gravel at the outside of the Turn 10 left-hand hairpin at the back straight – the Briton having been unsettled coming across Oscar Piastri’s McLaren going slowly on the racing line while he pushed on.

Russell’s gravel expedition was brief and he was able to carry on, also noting his Mercedes W14 bottoming out through the now high-speed final corner, as other drivers had felt during FP1 and called it porpoising.

Bottas ended up ninth ahead of Pierre Gasly, who rounded out the top 10, meaning there was no place for Lewis Hamilton – the Mercedes driver finishing 11th quickest but retaining the quickest time in the first sector from his personal best lap to the end.

There was little action of note during the final third of the session, although Logan Sargeant and Hulkenberg came close to contact at Turn 1 in the last 10 minutes after the Williams driver closed in on the Haas using DRS and came up on its inside at the right-hander before Hulkenberg surged ahead again.

Just like in FP1 heavy cloud began to build up late in the session and light spots of rain were reported at the high-speed Campsa right-hander, with track temperatures falling as a result.

Wet weather is currently forecast to impact the rest of the Barcelona weekend, with long term assessments suggesting Sunday’s race could well be wet.

F1 Spanish GP: FP2 results

Cla	Driver		Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Max Verstappen		Red Bull	34	1'13.907
2	Fernando Alonso		Aston Martin	30	1'14.077	0.170
3	Nico Hulkenberg		Haas	31	1'14.177	0.270
4	Sergio Perez		Red Bull	30	1'14.219	0.312
5	Esteban Ocon		Alpine	30	1'14.242	0.335
6	Charles Leclerc		Ferrari	32	1'14.246	0.339
7	Carlos Sainz		Ferrari	32	1'14.274	0.367
8	George Russell		Mercedes	31	1'14.392	0.485
9	Valtteri Bottas		Alfa Romeo	32	1'14.448	0.541
10	Pierre Gasly		Alpine	29	1'14.457	0.550
11	Lewis Hamilton		Mercedes	31	1'14.549	0.642
12	Oscar Piastri		McLaren	30	1'14.583	0.676
13	Zhou Guanyu		Alfa Romeo	29	1'14.585	0.678
14	Lando Norris		McLaren	30	1'14.694	0.787
15	Kevin Magnussen		Haas	24	1'14.713	0.806
16	Nyck de Vries		AlphaTauri	33	1'14.785	0.878
17	Yuki Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	34	1'14.840	0.933
18	Lance Stroll		Aston Martin	31	1'15.010	1.103
19	Alex Albon		Williams	32	1'15.056	1.149
20	Logan Sargeant		Williams	33	1'15.415	1.508
View full results