Piastri leads FP2 in Spain to keep McLaren on top

Oscar Piastri maintained McLaren’s advantage at the Spanish Grand Prix, topping second practice ahead of George Russell.

Piastri became the first driver of the weekend to break the 1m13s barrier, clocking a time of 1:12.760, comfortably ahead of Russell in the Mercedes

It was a near-exact reversal of FP1 results for the McLaren duo, with Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris finishing fourth, 0.310s behind the Aussie.

Russell impressed in the Mercedes, setting his fastest time on his first run on soft tyres for the weekend, having focused on medium and hard compounds in FP1.

Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull, setting an identical time to Norris, but finished ahead of the Brit due to setting his lap time earlier in the session.

The Dutchman was among several drivers who struggled with turn 10 during FP2, running wide in the first half of the session.

He was joined by Piastri and Gabriel Bortoleto in the Kick Sauber, who also ran off at the tricky corner.

Charles Leclerc finished fifth for Ferrari, while teammate Lewis Hamilton couldn’t replicate his FP1 pace that saw him finish in the top three. He ended FP2 in 11th, complaining over team radio that the car was “not driveable.”

Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli was sixth, followed by home favourite Fernando Alonso in seventh for Aston Martin. The top ten was rounded out by Pierre Gasly in the Alpine, and the two Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson.

Hadjar reported being impeded early in the session by Gasly’s teammate, Franco Colapinto, with the incident being noted by the stewards. Colapinto, meanwhile, continued to struggle, finishing last for the second session in a row.

Nico Hülkenberg was 12th for Kick Sauber, followed by Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda in 13th, who reported excessive sliding in his RB21.

The Williams pair of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon were 14th and 15th, ahead of Lance Stroll, who spent a large portion of the session out his car after complaining of a recurring issue.

Bortoleto placed 18th, ahead of Haas drivers Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman.

Early in the session, Bearman became the second Haas driver of the day to end up in the gravel, after Ryo Hirakawa’s off in FP1.

The British rookie lost control at turn 3 and spun into the gravel, doing well to avoid hitting the barriers before safely re-joining the track.

Results: Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, Free Practice 2

This article was originally written for Speedcafe. You can read the published version here