Charles Leclerc was quickest in the second practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of the two Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Just as he had been in the opening session in the afternoon, Leclerc was fastest of all on the soft tyres to cap off a promising start to the Barcelona weekend for Ferrari. Carlos Sainz Jnr was fourth, with Max Verstappen fifth quickest in the Red Bull.
After a warm start to the weekend in first practice, temperatures had breached the 30C mark for the start of the evening session. Sergio Perez, Zhou Guanyu and Alex Albon all took their cars back for the hour-long session after sitting out first practice in the afternoon.
Most of the field took to the circuit on the medium tyres to try to gain data. After ending the first session third fastest behind the two Ferraris, Verstappen set the early pace ahead of Sainz and Leclerc, but by less than a tenth of a second from the pair.
Valtteri Bottas only had a couple of laps underneath when his Alfa Romeo suddenly slowed along the main straight. Bottas stopped his car on the outside of turn two. The Virtual Safety Car was briefly called while the stricken Alfa Romeo was recovered, Bottas’s day having come to a close.
Lando Norris ran wide at turn seven, taking to the gravel in his McLaren. Not long after, Norris understeered wide again, this time at the fast, uphill right-hander of turn nine, running over the serrated kerbs on the outside of the corner and causing damage to the new floor on his car. Norris would return to the pits and not rejoin for the remainder of the hours.
Teams moved back onto the soft tyres as the session progressed, with Sebastian Vettel using the red-walled tyres to move briefly to the top of the times. Verstappen improved to retake the fastest time, before Sainz, then Leclerc replaced him.
The Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton used the soft tyres to move into second and third place in the standings, respectively, which is where they would…