Oscar Piastri leads the way in FP2 at the F1 Spanish Grand Prix

If the first two hours of practice at the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix are any indication, McLaren remains the team to beat.

Even with the new Technical Directive impacting front wings that was put into place ahead of this weekend.

After Lando Norris topped the timing sheets in FP1, Oscar Piastri led the way in FP2 with a lap of 1:12.760. That time was 0.286 seconds ahead of the time posted by Mercedes driver George Russell. Max Verstappen and Norris finished with the same time of 1:13.070, which was 0.310 seconds off Piastri’s pace.

Charles Leclerc rounded out the top five with a time of 1:13.260.

The session began at 5:00 p.m. local time with several drivers rolling out of the garage, led by Leclerc on a set of the C2 medium tires. That was common throughout the circuit, as the drivers focused on long runs to start the session. Leclerc was one of 18 drivers using the C2 medium compound, while Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto took to the track on the C1 hard tires.

The early runs saw Norris again atop the timing sheets followed by Verstappen — as was the case in FP1 — followed by Piastri. Fernando Alonso and Russell rounded out the top five, with each time set on the C2 medium compound.

Russell eventually jumped to the top of the timing sheets, with a lap that put him 0.135 seconds ahead of Norris, set on the medium compound. Around the 40-minute mark of the session, he returned to the track on a set of the C3 soft tires, Russell’s soft-tire run of the weekend. His subsequent time of 1:13.046 kept him at the top of the timing sheets.

His Mercedes teammate, Kimi Antonelli, jumped to P2 with his first run on the soft tires.

Verstappen and Norris then returned to the track on soft tires, and pumped in the same exact time of 1:13.070.

Right at the 30-minute mark, Piastri delivered a thunderous lap as he was purple through all three sectors to go into P1, 0.286 seconds ahead of Russell.

After a set of soft-tire runs, Lewis Hamilton radioed in that the car was “undriveable.” Ferrari pushed his SF-25 back into the garage, in search of answers yet again. Ruth Buscombe on F1TV noted that Ferrari brought a performance upgrade to the Spanish Grand Prix, including some new components to their front wing beyond the new Technical Directive requirements.

As the session wound down, most of the grid was focused on longer runs, with Piastri, Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc, and Hamilton among those on the track with the C2 medium tires. There was a late moment in the session as Verstappen considered a lunge by Leclerc into Turn 1, but then backed up behind the Ferrari driver:

FP2 drew to a close with Piastri atop the timing board, followed by a top five of Russell, Verstappen, Norris, and Leclerc. Antonelli, Alonso, Pierre Gasly, Isack Hadjar, and Liam Lawson rounded out the top ten.

The teams and drivers will now spend the evening pouring over the data ahead of FP3 and Qualifying, which arrive tomorrow.

Here are the full results from FP2 at the Spanish Grand Prix: