Piastri secures top spot in challenging FP2 session ahead of Spanish Grand Prix
A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
Oscar Piastri led the FP2 session ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, with George Russell in P2 and Max Verstappen in P3.
As it happened
The clock started ticking down the 60 minutes allotted for FP2 and all drivers started making their way down the pitlane to not waste a single minute of on track action.
On the exit of Turn 9 Lewis Hamilton cinematically slid a bit off on the exit of Turn 9, and put in a lap good enoch for P9.
Lando Norris took P1 with a 1.13.6s, three tenths ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri in P2. Then Max Verstappen split the two papaya cars being only the third driver to come down the 1.14.0s barrier.
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Fernando Alonso was the quickest of the non championship rivals slotting in P4 ahead of George Russell in P5, Charles Leclerc, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg in P10.
Out of Turn 3 Oliver Bearman dipped his tyres too much off the line triggering a spin for the British driver, who ended up in the gravel, but managed to keep his VF-25 Haas F1 car in motion, therefore he was able to continue on with his session.
Verstappen came out for a push lap, but after reaching the Sector 2 threshold he decided to give it up and park it in the garage. The Dutchman experienced a significant moment
Russell then put in a rather strong lap, 1:13.501s, to take over from Norris, as Piastri failed to improve. Lance Stroll then complained on the radio that the car was ‘so bad’. When asked by his engineer as to how it was bad, the Canadian simply replied: ‘I mean, just look.’
As the session reached the equator it was Piastri who took the lead of the session with a mighty lap nearly 3 tenths quicker than Russell’s. Verstappen trailed both of them in P3 with Norris in P4 mimicking the Dutchman’s lap time down to the one thousandth. Charles Leclerc rounded off the top 5.
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Both Ferrari drivers were separated by five cars with Hamilton placing in the confines of the top 10 in P11 0.273s from his teammate, proving how close everything was at the top.
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