Hamilton sets the fastest lap this time | FP2

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton got the better of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas as he set the pace in second practice for the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix, as his chief title rival Max Verstappen backed out of his low fuel run…

Just a tenth separated Verstappen and Hamilton in FP1, the former holding the advantage in the morning – but when everyone switched to the soft tire for their qualifying simulation, Verstappen had a very untidy lap.

Lewis Hamilton at Spanish GP

There were no such problems for Hamilton, who sat a fraction off Bottas after the first runs on the medium tires, but launched to the front of the pack when they switched to the softest compound, finishing 0.139s clear of the Finn.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was a surprise third, the Monegasque setting the quickest final sector of all as ended just 0.165s adrift, around three tenths quicker than teammate Carlos Sainz, who had a less clean lap that was also impacted by traffic.

Alpine was something of a surprise package in Portugal, ending Friday with both cars in the top six and scoring with both cars on Sunday – and they continued that good form into Barcelona, with Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso – running a series of new aero parts – fourth and fifth respectively, inside 0.4s of the top time.

Standings:-

2021 F1 SPANISH GRAND PRIX - FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (2)
POS	DRIVER	NAT.	TEAM	TIME
1	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1m18.170s
2	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1m18.309s
3	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m18.335s
4	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	1m18.466s
5	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Alpine F1 Team	1m18.518s
6	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m18.593s
7	Yuki Tsunoda	JPN	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1m18.619s
8	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	1m18.674s
9	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	1m18.785s
10	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	1m18.918s
11	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1m18.947s
12	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1m19.092s
13	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m19.122s
14	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1m19.134s
15	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1m19.195s
16	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen	1m19.213s
17	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	1m19.957s
18	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1m20.046s
19	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m20.326s
20	Nikita Mazepin	RUS	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1m20.753s

Source- Crash.net

-by Amaan Attar