Unmasking Performance: Teams Push the Limit in Spanish GP FP2
The afternoon heat in Barcelona sweltered for the final session of the day. The track was a scorching 50 Degrees Celsius. Mercedes dominated FP1, and they were looking good for FP2. The light went green at 5pm local time, 1 hour ahead of the UK. Perez, who missed FP1 due to the rookie tests, was the first out on track to get a feel of the evolving circuit. Bearman, Gasly and Ocon follow suit, with Gasly having the news that his 3rd place podium in Monaco had been reinstated; he was ready and raring to go. The number 81 McLaren was late to the party, coming out 10 minutes into the session but immediately going top with a 1:15.724, already quicker than the times in FP1.
Russell also joined the party 15 minutes in, and everyone expected him to shoot to the top, but he only managed second, 0.221 seconds behind the Australian. The only car that hadn’t emerged was the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas, where mechanics were seen surrounding the car with laptops, suggesting a possible software issue for the Finn. The first VSC of the weekend was deployed as a result of Lawson parking up at the pit lane exit. He reported that his engine had died. He ended up getting out of his VCARB and returning to the garage on a moped; it seemed like the reliability gremlins had followed him from Monaco to Barcelona.
20 minutes into the session, and there was still no sign of Bottas. He was missing a big chunk of valuable track time here, something which is essential to get a good pace in the race on Sunday. Piastri remained out front, Nobody being able to beat his times as Russell and Verstappen remained behind. But the VSC was a help for some drivers, as a few of them opted to come into the garage to fit soft tyres, so we were to expect some faster times in the coming laps.
It was halfway through the session when the times finally started to get shaken up. Russell jumped Piastri and took the first place spot with a 1:15.435, and his Italian teammate jumped up to 4th, just 0.580 seconds slower. Norris emerged from the McLaren garage to set his flying lap on the soft tyre. He was half a tenth off in the middle sector after having a huge slide, and roughly the same amount of time in Sector 3, meaning he slotted into second, just 0.048 behind Russell.
Norris didn’t give up, though, as he immediately set off on another flying lap, acing this one and going top. 0.009 seconds ahead of his fellow Brit. McLaren seemed to have the pace in Barcelona, but could they carry the momentum through the rest of the weekend and into the race on Sunday? While Norris was happy with his first place, Hamilton was struggling with his own issues as he reported that “something is wrong with the rear”. His Race Engineer came back to tell him it’s the wind which has picked up significantly since FP1 earlier that afternoon.
Bottas might have missed 40 minutes of the session, but he finally emerged from the pit lane to the delight of the spectators. By this time, everybody was on their race simulations, to get some useful data for the setup on Sunday. This meant the cars had more fuel, but they became harder to control. This resulted in a lot of slides out of the corner exits, which could be fun to watch on Sunday.
Nothing happened for the rest of the session, bar from Antonellli complaining about a long brake pedal in the final few minutes. Mercedes seemed to have found their match as the McLaren of the reigning World Champion topped the times in this session. That’s it for Friday, but there was still plenty of action to come over the weekend.
