FP2: Hamilton sets the pace during second practice in Barcelona ahead of Sainz and Norris

Lewis Hamilton ended the first day of running at the Spanish Grand Prix on top after setting the pace in Free Practice 2, leading the way from Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.

While Norris had gone fastest during the opening practice hour earlier in the day, some question marks remained over the pecking order as FP2 got under way, with Ferrari, Mercedes and Alpine having not used the soft tyre in the first session.

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It was a busy start to second practice as most of the field hit the track on the medium or hard compounds. There was an early moment for Logan Sargeant, who managed to save his Williams – which this weekend is the same specification as team mate Alex Albon’s car – after nearly losing the rear.

Max Verstappen, meanwhile, reported that his RB20 was experiencing understeer mid-corner, with the Dutchman stating: “This car doesn’t bite.” Over at Mercedes, George Russell topped the timesheets after the opening runs, recording a lap of 1m 14.089s on the medium rubber.

Focus then switched to fast laps as the pack started to bolt on the soft tyre, with Sainz the first to go quickest in front of his home crowd in the Ferrari before Hamilton took over P1 by just two hundredths of a second.

That lap of 1m 13.264s from the seven-time world champion remained on top as drivers began their race simulation runs later in the session, while Sainz stayed in P2 and Norris took P3 in the McLaren. Just behind, Pierre Gasly was an eye-catching P4 for Alpine, putting him ahead of Verstappen in P5.

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Charles Leclerc was sixth in the Ferrari, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in seventh and Russell in eighth, meaning that the top four teams were slightly spread out across the leading eight positions. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas in the Kick Sauber rounded out the top-10.

The Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg – the latter getting his first running of the weekend after Oliver Bearman took the wheel of his car in FP1 – were 11th and 12th respectively, while Sergio Perez claimed 13th, having found himself out of sync after embarking on his soft tyre laps later than the rest of the field.

Fernando Alonso was P14 for Aston Martin, 11 years after claiming his last F1 victory at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Behind him were the RB pair of Yuki Tsunoda in P15 and Daniel Ricciardo in P16.

Zhou Guanyu slotted into 17th for Kick Sauber, with the Chinese driver having switched back to an older chassis as he looks to restore his confidence in the C44, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll followed in 18th.

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Williams team mates Albon and Sargeant brought up the rear in P19 and P20 respectively.

With Friday’s track action in Barcelona now complete, the drivers and teams will assess their data before returning for third and final practice on Saturday at 1230 local time, prior to qualifying later in the day.