Mercedes stayed on top in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix but no one was able to beat Valtteri Bottas’s best time from the morning session.
Lewis Hamilton topped the times at the end of the second 90 minutes of practice. However he was one of several drivers who found it difficult to extract more performance from the softest tyres available this weekend.
Hamilton’s 1’18.259 on super-softs put him on top by a tenth of a second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. Both Red Bulls featured in the top three, Max Verstappen followed by Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas.Kimi Raikkonen, sixth, brought his session to an early end with a suspected power unit problem on his Ferrari. Its engine note changed noticeably at the exit of turn nine, after which he was told to park up.
The Haas drivers led the following runners. Romain Grosjean was the quickest of the pair despite spinning into a gravel trap at turn seven earlier in the session.
Stoffel Vandoorne put his McLaren ninth ahead of Sergio Perez. The Force India driver missed the final minutes of running after stopped with a loose left-front wheel.
The quickest of the Renault drivers was Nico Hulkenberg in 13th place, followed by Pierre Gasly in the first of the Toro Rossos. The two Williams drivers ended a dismal day of practice at the bottom of the times sheets.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’18.259 | 39 | |
| 2 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’18.392 | 0.133 | 41 |
| 3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’18.533 | 0.274 | 39 |
| 4 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’18.585 | 0.326 | 34 |
| 5 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’18.611 | 0.352 | 39 |
| 6 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’18.829 | 0.570 | 16 |
| 7 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’19.579 | 1.320 | 24 |
| 8 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’19.643 | 1.384 | 39 |
| 9 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’19.722 | 1.463 | 32 |
| 10 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’19.962 | 1.703 | 28 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’20.024 | 1.765 | 38 |
| 12 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’20.035 | 1.776 | 35 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’20.183 | 1.924 | 43 |
| 14 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’20.373 | 2.114 | 32 |
| 15 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’20.501 | 2.242 | 37 |
| 16 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’20.514 | 2.255 | 29 |
| 17 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’20.672 | 2.413 | 31 |
| 18 | 28 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’21.265 | 3.006 | 34 |
| 19 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’21.556 | 3.297 | 35 |
| 20 | 35 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’22.060 | 3.801 | 36 |
Second practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’18.259
+0.133 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’18.392
+0.274 Max Verstappen – 1’18.533
+0.326 Sebastian Vettel – 1’18.585
+0.352 Valtteri Bottas – 1’18.611
+0.570 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’18.829
+1.320 Romain Grosjean – 1’19.579
+1.384 Kevin Magnussen – 1’19.643
+1.463 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’19.722
+1.703 Sergio Perez – 1’19.962
+1.765 Esteban Ocon – 1’20.024
+1.776 Fernando Alonso – 1’20.035
+1.924 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’20.183
+2.114 Pierre Gasly – 1’20.373
+2.242 Marcus Ericsson – 1’20.501
+2.255 Charles Leclerc – 1’20.514
+2.413 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’20.672
+3.006 Brendon Hartley – 1’21.265
+3.297 Lance Stroll – 1’21.556
+3.801 Sergey Sirotkin – 1’22.060
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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2018 Spanish Grand Prix
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- Top ten pictures from the 2018 Spanish Grand Prix
- Commanding win puts Hamilton’s bid for a fifth title on track
- Sirotkin was in severe pain from “dangerous” seat problem
dio
11th May 2018, 15:38
Alonso made that time in mediums? then maybe he is best from the rest..first three are way ahead..
nase
11th May 2018, 15:48
The Mediums didn’t necessarily look like a big disadvantage. Most drivers struggled to string three decent sectors together on the softer compounds.
lubhz (@lubhz)
11th May 2018, 15:48
The top tree cars are too far ahead, but probably as concerning is how far behind the Williams are.
toiago (@toiago)
11th May 2018, 15:55
They look absolutely nowhere… For them to give Kubica the responsibility to assess their new upgrades just shows that they are lost, don’t have any answers, and especially and perhaps more concerning, they don’t trust their two permanent drivers to guide the team regarding the development of their car.
Ajanu (@ajanu)
11th May 2018, 19:46
Kubica is their test driver and has probably been driving these upgrades for weeks or maybe months in the simulator. Having him run them on a track that should be well known is probably just a checkback against their modelling. It looks like that check failed and the car is not as good as planned.
Todfod (@todfod)
11th May 2018, 21:01
That’s the problem. They didn’t get the perfect car design to start the season. There were definite flaws, but a decent and experienced F1 driver can guide the team on fixing issues and developing the car better. Right now they’re stuck with a rookie, and a clueless driver who doesn’t know his head from his rear end.
It will be sad if Williams finishing last this season. Their strategy of chasing the money back fired big time, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are seriously considering changing their line up for next season.
anon
12th May 2018, 7:31
@todfod, the flaws that have been found so far were reportedly pretty fundamental flaws, such as the problems with the internal cooling systems of the cars. I don’t think that “a decent and experienced F1 driver can guide the team” in fixing those issues – those issues are pretty significant and in areas where a driver can’t make any real difference.
Even Kubica himself sounded a bit confused at how badly the car was performing on track – quite a few of his comments were about how atrocious the handling balance of the car was and how the car was very unpredictable to drive and seemed to have very little margin for error (as he showed himself when he spun the car during FP1). From what he was saying, it’s more than a slightly flawed design – it sounds like a total disaster.
DaveW (@dmw)
11th May 2018, 16:02
Since this is the test track, you would expect that optimization of the set ups would mean that the best teams don’t stumble and show the true quality of their machinery. Which is why this race is often a snoozer.
Yes, Williams is in desperate shape. Maybe they should let Stroll just buy them out and make them the MB B-team. MB is not going to keep doing this forever, so maybe they could become the heir to the factory team.
Patrik
11th May 2018, 16:23
I trust that Williams don’t sell out only for positions.
All teams and as well Maclaren and Ferrari have had to same problems some times.only losers gives up as soon as it gets tuff.
They will come back.
bobec
11th May 2018, 16:53
Williams don’t sell out? Williams will come back? Man, that sounds like some parallel universe:)
Schudha
11th May 2018, 15:48
I thought ham did his quickest on the soft not ss?
Sumedh
11th May 2018, 16:23
I have been a vocal McLaren critic throughout. But I will humbly eat my words. They genuinely seem to have made a significant step forward.
Their chassis being bad was probably a temporary 4 race affair.
Looking forward to Alonso mixing it up with the top 6 now.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
11th May 2018, 16:57
They are still about 1.5-2 seconds off the pace of the top 6…
Iosif (@afonic)
11th May 2018, 17:41
They probably closed the gap to Red Bull from 2secs to 1.5secs. How is he going to mix it up with the top 6 with that kind of improvement?
Reality check 1: This is another lost year for McLaren.
Reality check 2: I don’t know if we can keep saying that these are “lost years” or if we just have to accept that McLaren is a midfield team now.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
12th May 2018, 0:01
Indeed, by the looks of it, alonso can do no miracles against the top 6, given how far back mclaren is.
A realistic goal is outperforming renault on merit, even that won’t be a given.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
11th May 2018, 16:26
Williams is the new HRT
Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
11th May 2018, 17:01
@fer-no65 I was thinking the same thing. It’s hard to believe how far they have fallen.
HOLMZINI
11th May 2018, 17:52
How is it possible that the new Halo mirrors are being allowed??
The function of the Halo is to protect the driver from a tethered wheel slap. What happens to the added bits like mirrors,winglets and race after race more aero shapes that will go somewhere upon impact?
The longer we have the Halo and bits being added to it racraises the danger level of the unexpected to happen.
cm-cm
11th May 2018, 19:47
@Holmzini I’m not a halo fan either, but your being a little disingenuous to prove your point, aren’t you? I would go into explaining that wheels are much heavier than a mirror, and likely to stay in one bulky heavy piece, but you know that….
Todfod (@todfod)
11th May 2018, 20:49
Completely agree. A side impact of a wheel on the halo will dislodge the mirror or whatever aero device is on the halo in to the cockpit… thus defeating the whole purpose of the the halo in the first place. FIA should take this issue seriously.. and without doing Ferrari any favours for once.
MB (@muralibhats)
11th May 2018, 21:54
Killed by a mirror or its pieces.. not even flying at 20% speed of what hit Massa.. yeah.
budchekov (@budchekov)
11th May 2018, 23:42
Yep, the side door’s wide open, how the heck can they allow this.
Joao (@johnmilk)
11th May 2018, 23:18
That’s quite a far fetched idea. Debris flying around are much more likely to enter the cockpit. The mirror is exactly in the same position as before, just mounted some place else.
MB (@muralibhats)
11th May 2018, 21:54
Killed by a mirror or its pieces.. not even flying at 20% speed of what hit Massa.. yeah.
HOLMZINI
11th May 2018, 22:20
Material from the car came back into the drivers area and did kill Senna.
I find it odd this extra bits issue isn’t being discussed at higher levels.