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Spanish GP F1 practice: Lewis Hamilton leads Red Bulls in FP2

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton topped the second Formula 1 free practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix

Hamilton posted a best time of 1m18.259s early in the 90-minute session using soft-compound Pirellis.

He looked set to improve on his qualifying simulation flying lap after switching to supersofts, but was too aggressive on the throttle in the Turn 7 left-hander and took a bite of the gravel.

Hamilton did not have another serious attempt on that set of tyres before returning to the pits, but with many drivers struggling to make a significant improvement after switching to supersofts his earlier time was good enough for top spot.

Daniel Ricciardo was second fastest for Red Bull, 0.133s slower than Hamilton, also posting his time using soft Pirellis on his first run.

Ricciardo managed to set his time on his 10th lap on the softs, then lapped three-tenths slower on his quickest attempt using the supersofts.

Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen did improve on his qualifying simulation lap, posting a 1m18.533s to slot into third behind his team-mate.

Verstappen later had a spin at Turn 2 while lapping on softs in the closing minutes of the session.

Behind him, Vettel also improved on supersofts, lapping half-a-tenth slower than Verstappen, with Valtteri Bottas behind the pair in fifth having used mediums early on then set his best time on supersofts.

Kimi Raikkonen was the slowest of the drivers from the top three teams, surviving a run through the gravel at Turn 4 before bringing his car into the pits with just under 40 minutes remaining with an unidentified problem.

He also did not improve on supersofts, with his best of 1m18.829s set on softs early in the session.

Romain Grosjean recovered from a disastrous start to the afternoon's running to emerge as best of the rest after posting a 1m19.579s using supersofts just after the one-hour mark.

The Haas driver spun into the gravel at Turn 7 on his fourth lap of the session, but after being recovered to the pits returned to the track to post his time.

That relegated Kevin Magnussen to the second fastest Haas driver in eighth place.

Magnussen was best of the rest early in the session before improving his best time by 0.235s on supersofts.

That put him ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, driving the updated McLaren, who had a slow start to the session thanks to a floor change then secured a top 10 place with his pace on supersofts at close to the one-hour mark.

Sergio Perez completed the top 10 for Force India, less than a tenth of a second faster than team-mate Esteban Ocon.

Perez's session came to a premature end as he stopped on track with 13 minutes remaining with a loose front-left wheel after a pitstop.

Although he was briefly able to restart and continue to roll around in an attempt to get back to the pits after being urged to attempt to do so by the team, but decided he had to stop for good for fear the wheel was going to come off completely.

Fernando Alonso was 12th fastest for McLaren ahead of the lead Renault of Nico Hulkenberg and the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly - the latter also having a floor change during the session.

Sauber pairing Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc were 15th and 16th, ahead of the second Renault of Carlos Sainz Jr.

Sainz complained of problems with both aerodynamic and mechanical balance in the Renault, which features a modified front wing and rear suspension this weekend.

Brendon Hartley was 18th ahead of the two Williams drivers, with Sergey Sirotkin ahead of Lance Stroll despite describing the car's handling as "weird" over the radio.

FP2 times

Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m18.259s - 39
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m18.392s 0.133s 41
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m18.533s 0.274s 39
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m18.585s 0.326s 34
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m18.611s 0.352s 39
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m18.829s 0.570s 16
7 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m19.579s 1.320s 24
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m19.643s 1.384s 39
9 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Renault 1m19.722s 1.463s 32
10 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m19.962s 1.703s 28
11 Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 1m20.024s 1.765s 38
12 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Renault 1m20.035s 1.776s 35
13 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m20.183s 1.924s 43
14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 1m20.373s 2.114s 32
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m20.501s 2.242s 37
16 Charles Leclerc Sauber/Ferrari 1m20.514s 2.255s 29
17 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 1m20.672s 2.413s 31
18 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso/Honda 1m21.265s 3.006s 34
19 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1m21.556s 3.297s 35
20 Sergey Sirotkin Williams/Mercedes 1m22.060s 3.801s 36


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