Brendan Lines 15th Aug, 2020 10:00am

Lewis Hamilton reversed the order at Mercedes finishing FP2 for the Spanish Grand Prix in P1, two tenths of a second ahead of Valtteri Bottas in P2, who was fastest in the morning session.

As the temprature climbed for the afternoon session, there was much interest around Mercedes’ performance on the Pirelli tyres after its troubles at the second race at Silverstone, despite Hamilton going fastest with a lap of 1:16.883s.

“It’s definitely been quite tough out there today. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Spain when it’s been this hot,” Hamilton said after FP1.

“The weather is beautiful, but it’s tricky for the car and very tough on the tyres as well. It’s also been quite windy and that can make it difficult out there, but it’s a good challenge. It’s been a positive day, particularly the second session which went better for me,

“We didn’t see any blistering, the tyres felt OK and the long runs didn’t look too bad, but we also didn’t see any blistering last Friday, so we’ll have to remain careful,

“We’ll debrief this evening and see where we stand and what we can do to improve. The Red Bulls look very close to us on the long runs, so we can expect another close race here.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Bottas who despite taking P2, survived a wobble at Turn 15 and a venture onto a gravel trap late in the session.

Max Verstappen held P3 across both Friday’s sessions, closing the gap to the Mercedes to just six tenths of a second in FP2, Red Bull teammate Alex Albon had quiet session managing just P13.

Daniel Ricciardo rocketed within a second of Mercedes in P4, while teammate Esteban Ocon struggled for rear-end stability in P9.

The Aussie, Ricciardo actioned his words that his R.S.20s pace in free practice was ‘delicious.’

“It was really similar [to Silverstone] actually,” said Ricciardo.

“We had a quiet Silverstone FP1, then a delicious FP2, similar here today. Max just got me for [third], I wanted that again so he’s cut me deep, but it was a good day. We found a bit in P2. I wasn’t particularly that happy with P1, so we made some changes. I thought at the time they were a little bit bold but it worked out so I think we’ll stay as we are for now.”

Romain Grosjean pulled out another surprise result for Haas, a lap of 1:18.133 was a tenth quicker than his FP1 time, teammate Kevin Magnussen finished out if the top ten in P12.

Charles Leclerc placed his Ferrari in P6, heading the tight mid-field tussle, as point-six of a second covered P6 back to P16. Sebastian Vettel had a bumpy ride through the final chicane dropping to P12.

Carlos Sainz improved taking P7 and remains the quicker McLaren on his home track, the Spaniard finished well ahead of teammate Lando Norris in P14.

Sergio Perez kept his claim as the fastest of the Racing Point cars taking P8 ahead of Lance Stroll in P11, both cars hovered just under +1.5s slower than the Mercedes.

Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten for Alpha Tauri, the Frenchman building up for a third successive run at Q3, Daniil Kyvat finished the session in P15.

The Alfa’s of Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi struggled in the heat finishing P17 and P18 respectively.

George Russell was back in his Williams, but complained both axels was like ‘driving on ice’ as he finished P20 behind Nicholas Latifi in P19 some seven tenths ahead.

FP3 and Qualifying from 7:30pm ACST tonight.