Hamilton fastest in second practice for Spanish GP
The second practice session of Friday at Circuit de Catalunya was topped by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. The reigning World Champion had a small margin over Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, followed by Sebastian Vettel for Ferrari.
The margins were fairly small between the top 6 on a circuit that teams know extremely well thanks to pre-season winter testing.
In fact, with Bottas in 5th and Raikkonen in 6th, the top three teams sat nicely together in the top 6 of the timing sheet with just 0.570s between them all. Just like the first session though, the Finnish Ferrari driver had another disrupted session that came to a halt 40 minutes earlier than expected, after a big puff of smoke came out of the back of his car. He was immediately told to stop the car, coasting back into the pitlane to never been seen again.
Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen were 7th and 8th, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne in the fastest McLaren. Sergio Perez completed the top 10 for Perez. The latter also had an early end to his day as a front tyre came loose, forcing him to park the car and end the session.
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:18.259 | - | 39 |
| 2 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer | 1:18.392 | +0.133s | 41 |
| 3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer | 1:18.533 | +0.274s | 39 |
| 4 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:18.585 | +0.326s | 34 |
| 5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:18.611 | +0.352s | 39 |
| 6 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:18.829 | +0.570s | 16 |
| 7 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:19.579 | +1.320s | 24 |
| 8 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:19.643 | +1.384s | 39 |
| 9 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren Renault | 1:19.722 | +1.463s | 32 |
| 10 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India Mercedes | 1:19.962 | +1.703s | 28 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India Mercedes | 1:20.024 | +1.765s | 38 |
| 12 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren Renault | 1:20.035 | +1.776s | 35 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:20.183 | +1.924s | 43 |
| 14 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda | 1:20.373 | +2.114s | 32 |
| 15 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber Ferrari | 1:20.501 | +2.242s | 37 |
| 16 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber Ferrari | 1:20.514 | +2.255s | 29 |
| 17 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1:20.672 | +2.413s | 31 |
| 18 | 28 | Brendon Hartley | Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda | 1:21.265 | +3.006s | 34 |
| 19 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams Mercedes | 1:21.556 | +3.297s | 35 |
| 20 | 35 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams Mercedes | 1:22.060 | +3.801s | 36 |
