#SpanishGP FP2: @Max33Verstappen quickest ahead of @alo_oficial. #F1

Verstappen Spanish GP FP2 – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the time-sheets in the afternoon FP2 session at the Spanish GP ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg who were second and third respectively.

The championship leader posted a 1:13.907 on the C3 red side-walled softer compounds and was 0.170 seconds faster than Alonso and Hulkenberg was a further 0.270 seconds adrift of Verstappen’s benchmark in third.

At the beginning of the afternoon session, AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries was the first to register a benchmark, a 1:17.918 during the opening tours using Pirelli’s prototype construction, which is set to become the standard at the upcoming British Grand Prix, which several other drivers trialled also.

But Alonso, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon all then temporarily held top of the order following their initial laps out of the pits – the field at this stage of proceedings spread across the hard and medium rubber already in use for Pirelli since the beginning of the 2023 campaign.

At the end of the fifth minute, Verstappen moved ahead with a new best time using the C1 prototype hard compounds before he was demoted by the Ferrari drivers, unusually, running the C3 red-marked softs.

With both SF-23 entries running updated sidepods, home favourite Carlos Sainz set a new benchmark with a 1:14.999, as team-mate Charles Leclerc slotted in 0.601 seconds behind in second on the time-sheets.

The Ferrari pairing returned to the pits before running again on the softs at the end of the opening ten minutes, with Sainz going quicker and Leclerc closing in to 0.223 seconds behind.

Verstappen then re-emerged on the mediums and jumped ahead at the 15th-minute mark, his 1:14.968 effort getting him ahead of Sainz despite only quicker than him in the opening sector.

After a short break in action, Ferrari sent both drivers out again on the softs for their qualifying simulation runs, with Sainz leading the way and shooting ahead of Verstappen’s previous benchmark, setting a 1:14.274.

But that lead only lasted a few moments as Leclerc topped Sainz in sectors two and three, moving ahead of his team-mate on a 1:14.246.

Then came Verstappen’s initial stint on the softs and the championship leader’s 1:13.907 reclaimed P1 with 25 minutes remaining – enough to lead Leclerc by 0.339 seconds.

Afterwards, behind Verstappen, it was Hulkenberg behind the Dutchman as the Haas driver jumped into second, 0.270 seconds adrift of the reigning world champion with the then quickest time in sector one – Verstappen dominating the other two sectors.

Just after the mid-way point of the session, Alonso demoted Hulkenberg to take second, just 0.170 seconds off Verstappen’s benchmark and with the better effort in sector three.

A few minutes later, the other Red Bull RB19 entry of Sergio Perez moved into fourth place with his qualifying simulation stint on the softs, whilst by then, Ocon also sent the Ferrari pairing further down the classification.

The field then switched to their traditional long race run data gathering to close the session, with the top part of the time-sheets preserved and Sainz and Leclerc shuffled down to sixth and seventh.

Then followed Mercedes’ George Russell, who had an early excursion through the gravel trap outside of the left-hand hairpin at turn 10 on the back straight, the Briton having been unsettled coming across McLaren’s Oscar Piastri travelling slowly on the racing line whilst he pushed on.

Russell’s trip in the gravel was only temporarily and was able to continue, also noting his F1 W14 racer bottoming out through the now high-speed final turn.

Bottas wound up ninth ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who completed the top ten.

Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton finished the afternoon outside the top ten in 11th place and 0.642 seconds off of Verstappen’s benchmark time.

McLaren Racing’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris placed in 12th and 14th with Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu splitting the pairing in-between.

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen finished Free Practice 2 in 15th and ahead of AlphaTauri duo de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda who were 16th and 17th respectively.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll ended the day a low 18th and in-front of Williams Racing pairing Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant who brought up the rear.

As in FP1, heavy clouds started to bubble up late in the session and light spots of rain were spotted at the high-speed Campsa right-hander, as track temperatures dropped as a result.

Wet weather is currently forecast to impact the rest of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, with Sunday’s race expected to be wet.

You can see the full Formula 1 AWS Gran Premio De Espana 2023 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1211/spain/practice-2.html

#SpanishGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen leads @RedBullRacing one-two. #F1

#F1 AWS #SpanishGP 2023 Preview.