The green light indicated the official start of FP2 at the F1 2024 Spanish GP weekend. Gasly led the way for Alpine, with Hamilton following closely.
The track temperature had dropped from 48 to 43 degrees Celsius, which favoured the use of soft tyres. Almost everyone headed out, except for Verstappen and Sainz who remained in the pits.
Sargeant had a slight mishap, nearly losing control and briefly skimming the gravel with his rear wheel. He managed to recover and continue, though he hadn’t posted a representative lap time yet.
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Russell sets the pace
Russell topped the timesheets with a 1m 14.089s, a tenth ahead of Norris and two tenths clear of his teammate. Verstappen was in third, but many teams were still focusing on setup checks and bedding in upgrades, planning to chase times later.
First FP2 runs done ✅ George is setting the pace so far in P1, with Lewis in P3 – both cars on the Medium tyres pic.twitter.com/I3c0aQb4hl
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) June 21, 2024
Bearman had driven for Haas in FP1, but Hülkenberg was back in the car for FP2. He had completed a few laps at the familiar track and was now back in the pits.
FP2 had a distinct rhythm, with drivers testing setup changes from FP1, followed by quick laps on soft tyres before settling into race simulation runs.
As hot laps continued, Sainz became the first top team driver to venture out on softs, followed by Leclerc and Norris. This allowed for a clearer picture of the pecking order.
Sainz tops the timesheets
On the soft tyres, Sainz topped the timing sheets with a 1m 13.286s. Norris followed closely, just 0.033s behind. Leclerc couldn’t match his teammate, placing third, three tenths back.
Hamilton went to the top, 0.022s ahead of Sainz. He had a strong record at this track, with six wins and six poles, and had finished on the podium here last year as well.
Russell’s first hot lap was a messy one, especially in the final sector. He could only manage sixth, which became seventh when Piastri beat his time by exactly a tenth.
Almost everyone had been out on the softs except for Pérez, who was stuck in the Red Bull garage with mechanics working on his car.
Gasly just put in a stellar lap, only 0.179s off Hamilton’s leading time. While the fuel loads were unknown, indicating Gasly might have been running lighter than others, it was still an impressive lap in a car that had been upgraded and lightened since the start of the season.
Pérez finally came out on the softs. His middle sector wasn’t great, and his tyres didn’t hold up for a push in the final sector either, leaving him with a disappointing P13.
Time for some longer runs 💪#F1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/eWZ8eF1bST
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 21, 2024
The current pecking order had four different teams in the top four, led by Hamilton.
Sargeant was running on hards, while Albon was on softs. Tyre degradation had decreased due to the dropping track temperatures.
Haas hadn’t expected this circuit to suit their VF-24, given its high-speed nature. However, they had improved their tyre usage this year, which had been their Achilles’ heel last season.
Considering their low expectations, P11 and P12 for Magnussen and Hulkenberg marked a decent session so far for the American outfit.
Everyone, except Leclerc, was out on track, gathering crucial data. Leclerc, with the fewest laps so far, finally joined as Ferrari appeared to have been working on his car, disrupting his run programme.
Hamilton looks strong
Hamilton looked set to top the session. Despite Russell being down in P8 due to a messy fast lap, he had more potential time to find.
Mercedes showed speed in Canada, and today’s performance suggested they couldn’t be discounted from the podium fight this weekend.
Norris took too much kerb, bounced back down, and admitted over the radio that he hit the floor “pretty hard.” Given the importance of the floors in this era of ground-effect cars, McLaren would need to inspect it carefully tonight.
FP2 concluded with Lewis Hamilton on top with a 1m 13.264s, 0.022s ahead of Carlos Sainz and 0.055s clear of Lando Norris.
Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team
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