Lewis Hamilton was fastest of all in the second practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr.
The Mercedes driver set the best time of the day with a 1’13.264 on soft tyres, less than a tenth of a second quicker than both Sainz and third-placed Lando Norris.
Conditions were slightly cooler than they had been for the opening hour of running for the day, with ambient temperatures sitting at 24C for the session. Naturally, with several teams having brought many new parts for their cars for this weekend, there was plenty of early running as drivers attempted to gather valuable data.
George Russell set the early pace with a 1’14.089, a tenth of a second faster than Norris in the McLaren, who had been quickest of all in the first session. Once teams began switching onto the soft compound, Carlos Sainz Jnr jumped to the top of the times with a 1’13.286, before Hamilton beat that by two hundredths of a second to go quickest.
As in the opening session, many drivers were having to fight with their cars around the multiple sustained corners. Sergio Perez was one of those drivers, continuing his struggles from the earlier session, but his afternoon was made further challenging when he spent and extended period of time in the Red Bull garage with a technical problem.
Heading into the later phase of the hour, teams started to focus on race simulation runs. Several drivers complained of losing grip from their tyres relatively early, even on the medium compound, including Max Verstappen. Norris abandoned his run on soft tyres after running very wide over the exit kerb at turn nine.
With no improvements in the times in the final 10 minutes, the chequered flag greeted drivers at the top of the hour at 6pm putting Hamilton quickest of all, mere hundredths ahead of Sainz in second.
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Norris ended the session third fastest, with Pierre Gasly a surprise entry in the top five in fourth for Alpine. Verstappen in fifth made it five different teams at the top of the times.
Charles Leclerc was sixth in the second Ferrari, with Oscar Piastri, Russell, Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas rounding out the top ten.
There was not a single yellow flag incident or notable off through the session, with all 20 drivers completing at least 21 laps of running.
2024 Spanish Grand Prix second practice result
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2024 Spanish Grand Prix
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