#SpanishGP FP2: @CharlesLeclerc tops time-sheets ahead of @MercedesAMGF1 duo. #F1

Leclerc Spanish GP FP2 – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was quickest in the afternoon FP2 session at the Spanish GP ahead of Mercedes pairing George Russell and Sir Lewis Hamilton.

Championship leader Leclerc posted the benchmark of a 1:19.670 on the red side-walled Pirelli C3 softer compounds and was 0.117 seconds quicker than Russell with Hamilton a further 0.204 seconds back in third.

Leclerc’s effort was 0.16 seconds faster than his earlier opening practice topping time, plus also closed in to Hamilton’s pre-season test best lap at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in late February, which was posted on the quicker C5 softer rubber.

Meanwhile at his home Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz pushed his Ferrari F1-75 entry to fourth in the classification ahead of reigning world champion Max Verstappen who completed the top five for Red Bull.

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon, both Aston Martin AMR22 entries of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon were the first drivers to hit the Montmelo circuit in the hour-long session as the field began with the C2 yellow-marked mediums and C1 harder rubber.

Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez and Albon also had their first running of the weekend after missing opening practice as Formula 2’s Juri Vips (Red Bull Racing) and Formula E world champion Nyck de Vries (Williams Racing) took part in their initial GP weekend practice sessions.

Also Zhou Gunayu returned to the cockpit of his Alfa Romeo C42, having made way for reserve Robert Kubica in FP1.

Verstappen was the first driver to post a representative time on the mediums as he and Sainz dropped below the 1:21’s bracket ahead of Leclerc and the Mercedes.

But after only 11 minutes the session was interrupted by the deployment of the virtual safety car.

The VSC was required due to the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas, running sixth on the time-sheets at the time, stopped on the main-straight after the Finn ran only three tours.

A puff of smoke from his C42 racer was matched with the engine seeming to die quickly as Bottas pulled off on the edge of the circuit at the turn one exit.

After three minutes of the virtual safety car, the other incidents, which occurred were Albon and McLaren’s Lando Norris as both drivers ran wide out of the high-speed right hand turn nine.

This left them to bounce over the outside kerb, kick up gravel and sparks flew.

Both drivers anticipated damage to the floors of their ground-effect cars, but whilst Albon continued on in the session, Norris was forced to remain in the McLaren garage for the rest of FP2 and completed only six tours.

Albon and Sainz also are currently under investigation for the stewards after a close scare between the pairing at the second corner.

After 21 minutes on the clock, the field switched to the C3 red-branded softer tyres for their qualifying simulation efforts with Vettel jumping to the top with his 1:20.703 in his majorly updated and controversial AMR22 racer – his time 0.23 quicker – which was then beaten by Perez, despite the Red Bull driver losing some pace due to encountering traffic at turn ten.

Verstappen then hit the top with a 1:20.006, finding a solid 0.7 seconds at the time as the Dutchman remained the fastest through sectors one and three, but fell back in the middle segment.

Then Sainz, the Mercedes duo and Leclerc set the times to lead the afternoon session.

It was concerning for Leclerc on his medium tyre long race data gathering run, however, as he complained of tyre behaviour and degradation when he was dropping several tenths per lap to title-rival Verstappen.

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso was sixth in the order in-front of his home crowd, whilst Perez and Vettel were demoted to seventh and eighth respectively ahead of the other Alpine A522 entry of Esteban Ocon who was ninth and Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher who rounded out the top ten.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was 11th in the classifications and placed ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who took 12th and Aston Martin’s Stroll who ended FP2 in 13th whilst the second AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda came 14th on the time-sheets.

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo finished the afternoon in 15th and in-front of Alfa Romeo duo Bottas and Zhou who were 16th and 17th respectively.

Williams Racing duo Albon and Nicholas Latifi ended the day FP2 in 18th and 19th respectively as McLaren’s Norris brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio De Espana 2022 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1111/spain/practice-2.html

#SpanishGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc leads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two. #F1

#Formula1 @Pirelli #SpanishGrandPrix 2022 Preview. #F1 #SpanishGP