Kimi Antonelli made it a Mercedes 1-2 in practice at the Madring on Friday, where he outpaced Charles Leclerc by a tenth of a second with Lewis Hamilton third fastest.
The session was red flagged when Arvid Lindblad lost control of his Racing Bulls F1 car at Turn 13 and slammed sideways into the barrier.
Kimi Antonelli leads Mercedes 1-2 in Spanish Grand Prix FP2
The track temperature was up to 52°C as the drivers ventured out for Friday’s second practice. Fernando Alonso did not join the queue after suffering a clutch issue during his practice starts in FP1.
Esteban Ocon led the field out of the pit lane at the start of FP2, with everyone but Alonso, Lance Stroll and Alex Albon following him out.
The Alpine driver clocked a 1:37.878, but he fell out of the top ten within minutes. Kimi Antonelli was quickest after the first ten minutes, taking P1 from Charles Leclerc by six-tenths of a second.
Lando Norris was back in the McLaren garage after two laps. He reported that his gearbox was “really bad, something is not right”. Instead of waiting in his car, Norris climbed out, a sign of a serious problem.
McLaren reported: “We identified an issue on Lando’s car, which requires a gearbox change. We are working to try and get Lando back out before the end of the session, although time is very tight.”
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Gabriel Bortoleto was told to “box for flap” as he felt as if he was about to crash at every corner.
Antonelli came up to traffic in the form of Sergio Perez, and despite the Cadillac driver going off the track, the championship leader complained: “Of course always the same guy.”
Hamilton had a close encounter with a wall and reported that he had no front-end grip.
Verstappen went fastest with a 1:34.378, 0.050s ahead of Antonelli, with Leclerc 0.011s further back. His P1 was short-lived as George Russell went quickest followed by Antonelli.
Midway through the session, Antonelli was quickest of all ahead of Russell and Leclerc. And Alonso was on the track, with a 1:37.900.
Switching to the soft tyres, Leclerc hit the front but he was quickly overhauled by Antonelli, while Hamilton moved up into second place. Antonelli’s P1 time was a 1:33.662. Russell aborted his first flying lap.
Red flag! Arvid Lindblad slammed into the barrier side-on at Turn 13. He lost the rear of his Racing Bulls F1 car and slid at pace into the barrier. He told the team: “I’m really sorry, I lost it super early.”
The session restarted with 13 minutes on the clock, with Antonelli, back on the medium tyres, and the Ferraris heading out. Verstappen, complaining about his steering, was on the soft Pirelli tyres.
Oscar Piastri had a moment at Turn 7 that left him momentarily stranded on an escape road. Lance Stroll was told to pit as Aston Martin had noted an “issue” with his Aston Martin.
The session ended with Antonelli quickest, ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton.
Spanish Grand Prix: FP2 top ten
1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:33.662
2 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:33.775
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:33.811
4 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls 1:33.890
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:33.999
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:34.063
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:34.200
8 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls 1:34.758
9 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:34.867
10 Liam Lawson Red Bull 1:34.938
The full results from FP2 at the Spanish Grand Prix
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