F1 Spanish GP: McLaren remains ahead with Piastri topping FP2 in Barcelona

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri was fastest in Friday's second practice session at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

The championship leader set his benchmark halfway through the one-hour contest to grab the lead from Mercedes driver George Russell.

At the start of the session, Piastri's team-mate Lando Norris picked up where he left off by immediately dipping below his FP1 leading time with a 1m13.636s on mediums.

Norris led the early running ahead of Max Verstappen and Piastri, until Russell upped the pace after 15 minutes with a 1m13.501s.

The Briton went faster still after he put on Pirelli's softest compound and clocked a 1m13.046s after 23 minutes, followed by his rookie team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli a quarter of a second behind.

Verstappen and Norris set identical lap times just 0.024s behind Russell, until Piastri took over command at the halfway mark.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari (Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images via Getty Images)

The Australian's soft-tyre lap of 1m12.760s remained at the top of the leaderboard throughout the session as teams switched focus to long runs.

Piastri led the session 0.286s clear of Russell and 0.310s ahead of both Verstappen and Norris, who were tied for third, while Charles Leclerc was fifth for Ferrari after demoting Antonelli.

Fernando Alonso was an encouraging seventh in front of his home fans for Aston Martin, followed by Alpine man Pierre Gasly. Racing Bulls duo Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson rounded out the top 10.

Haas rookie Oliver Bearman suffered the only incident of note, as he spun into the gravel early on at Turn 3, and needed his car repairing in the team garage. The Briton ended FP2 19th, only quicker than Alpine's Franco Colapinto.

The track sessions will return at 12:30 local time on Saturday for final practice, ahead of qualifying three and a half hours later. 

F1 Spanish GP - FP2 results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	28	1'12.760		S	230.417
2	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	32	+0.286 1'13.046	0.286	S	229.515
3	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	30	+0.310 1'13.070	0.024	S	229.440
4	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	31	+0.310 1'13.070	0.000	S	229.440
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	33	+0.500 1'13.260	0.190	S	228.845
6	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	31	+0.538 1'13.298	0.038	S	228.726
7	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	28	+0.541 1'13.301	0.003	S	228.717
8	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	30	+0.625 1'13.385	0.084	S	228.455
9	I. Hadjar RB	6		RB	Honda	29	+0.640 1'13.400	0.015	S	228.408
10	L. Lawson RB	30		RB	Honda	29	+0.734 1'13.494	0.094	S	228.116
11	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	29	+0.773 1'13.533	0.039	M	227.995
12	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27		Sauber	Ferrari	30	+0.832 1'13.592	0.059	S	227.812
13	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22		Red Bull	Red Bull	31	+0.923 1'13.683	0.091	S	227.531
14	C. Sainz Williams	55		Williams	Mercedes	34	+0.961 1'13.721	0.038	S	227.414
15	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	32	+1.079 1'13.839	0.118	S	227.050
16	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	17	+1.079 1'13.839	0.000	S	227.050
17	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5		Sauber	Ferrari	27	+1.199 1'13.959	0.120	S	226.682
18	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	30	+1.245 1'14.005	0.046	S	226.541
19	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	20	+1.366 1'14.126	0.121	S	226.171
20	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		Alpine	Renault	31	+1.543 1'14.303	0.177	S	225.632
View full results

In this article

Filip Cleeren

Formula 1

Oscar Piastri

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