F1 Spanish GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2

By: Stephen Lickorish, Jake Boxall-Legge

Summary


	Hamilton tops the times in FP2 by 0.139s from Bottas ahead of the Spanish GP Verstappen runs wide at Turn 10 on soft tyre run, down in P9 Leclerc puts Ferrari in third ahead of Alpine pair Ocon and Alonso Brief Virtual Safety Car after Sainz suffers front wing damage Bottas fastest in FP1 from Verstappen and Hamilton
	Leaderboard Hamilton, Mercedes Bottas, Mercedes Leclerc, Ferrari Ocon, Alpine Alonso, Alpine Gasly, AlphaTauri Tsunoda, AlphaTauri Sainz, Ferrari Verstappen, Red Bull Perez, Red Bull

Status: Stopped

17:13 That's us wrapping up today - we'll catch you tomorrow for FP3 and qualifying. Over and out.

17:13 And here's your session report. Despite earlier messages to the contrary, you should definitely read it - as it was a really exciting session and not at all dull: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/spanish-gp-fp2-report/6504199/

17:08 If sprint races are good for anything, it's to save us from the drudgery of FP2 sessions.

17:06 So, it's Hamilton from Bottas in that session - a reverse of FP1. Leclerc was third, ahead of Ocon and Alonso, with Gasly and Tsunoda in sixth and seventh ahead of Sainz. Verstappen and Perez completed the top 10.

17:04

17:00 And that's your lot for FP2. I'm going to grind some coffee after that - 'twas a bit of a snorer.

16:59 Verstappen just popped in and out of the pits, returning - unhelpfully - in team-mate Perez's path.

16:57 We're into the final few minutes of the session now, and both Hamilton and Gasly are the highest-lapping drivers with 29 a piece. Perez is lowest with 20 so far.

16:54 If we combined the best sectors, we'd have a 1m17.945s - taking Hamilton's first sector, Bottas' second, and Leclerc's third.

16:52 "How are the tyres, how is the balance?" asks Fernando Alonso's race engineer. "Oversteering," comes the curt reply.

16:50

16:48 Bottas had his long-run on the softs paused, and he's now taken on the mediums to do some further exploration.

16:46 The Mercs are running around in the low 1m23s, which Leclerc and Alonso were in the same ball-park. Gasly was in the high 1m23s last time around, with Ocon on mediums in the mid-1m24s.

16:42 It feels like pre-season testing now, with drivers pounding around the Barcelona circuit on race runs. The only thing that would complete the experience is the dreaded Burger Stall of Gloom...

16:39 Now, the "fun" begins as the teams assess how deep into a race the soft tyre will go.

16:37 Kimi Raikkonen's Alfa is currently doused in flow-vis paint to assess some bargeboard and floor aero movements. Otherwise, it's quite quiet now as we waltz to the race-style runs.

16:35 Perez brings his car up into the top 10, going up to 10th and just over a tenth off Verstappen.

16:33 Tsunoda now goes P7, just a slither off Gasly's best lap so far, so his earlier hop-skip-jump over the Campsa kerb hasn't affected him too much.

16:32 Some improvements still happening out there - Gasly went up to P6 before coming into the pits, while Ricciardo posts a better lap but can only get P14.

16:29 Verstappen was on a quicker lap, but got caught out at Turn 10 and had a severe case of the wiggles - carrying in too much pace.

16:27 Alonso wedges himself between Ocon and Sainz to go P5, which points at a very close midfield battle this weekend.

16:25 Ocon then went up to fourth, with Sainz moving up to fifth - so it's all change as we approach the end of the first half-hour.

16:24 Gasly now gets up to third as the field all takes to the soft tyre running, but is quickly nudged down a spot by Ferrari's Leclerc.

16:23 Norris now pops his McLaren between the two Astons, going fifth fastest.

16:22 The Aston duo blasts into the top five on softs, with Vettel in fourth 0.2s ahead of Stroll in fifth.

16:21 Now bearing soft tyres, Bottas does a 1m18.309s to go a tenth faster than his best - but Hamilton on the same compound logs a 1m18.170s to go top.

16:20 There's a replay of Tsunoda running over the Turn 9 kerbs, knocking out some fillings and giving his AlphaTauri car a few problems to boot. "The car switched off," he says.

16:17 Ricciardo gets himself up to P11, two tenths off Norris, and displaces Giovinazzi in the meantime. Stroll, Sainz, Raikkonen, Vettel, Latifi, Russell, Schumacher and Mazepin complete the order.

16:16 After the initial flurry of runs, our top 10 is: Bottas, Hamilton, Verstappen, Alonso, Gasly, Ocon, Perez, Leclerc, Tsunoda and Norris.

16:14 Verstappen remains third, but now gets into the 1m18s with a 1m18.785s. That puts him further ahead of the Alpine duo, Perez and Gasly.

16:13 'Twas a bit of debris shed from the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr, who went wide at Campsa and lost some bodywork to the sausage kerb.

16:12 We've got a VSC to clear a spot of debris, but that's swiftly cleared by a sprinting marshal.

16:11 Hamilton has another tilt, half a tenth off Bottas' best as it stands. Verstappen is a further half-second behind the Mercedes duo.

16:09 Bottas raises the bar even further and logs a 1m18.419s lap - just under a tenth quicker than his best this morning.

16:08

16:06 Hamilton then drops into second, going 0.2s slower than Bottas, but then Verstappen logs a 1m19.041s to go quickest on mediums.

16:05 Leclerc's up to second with Norris third at the moment, with Ocon ahead of Sainz.

16:04 Schumacher evokes memories of the 1982 German World Cup team with an excellent save, catching his errant Haas at Turn 2. Well held.

16:04 Immediately, Bottas smashes that with a 1m19.087s, which was inevitable really.

16:03 First lap recorded goes to Antonio Giovinazzi, a 1m20.691s.

F1 Spanish GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2

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F1 Spanish GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2

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