Verstappen still fastest but Alonso comes closest in second practice

Max Verstappen remained at the top of the times in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, but Fernando Alonso got within two tenths of as second of him.

Only Verstappen’s Red Bull lapped under the 1’14 barrier on Friday as he ended the second session quickest of all. Alonso was just 0.170s slower than the Red Bull in second, while Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg surprisingly posted the third-fastest time.

Despite the ominous clouds heading towards the circuit at the end of the opening hour of practice, the second session began with clear conditions and no sign of rain affecting running. Conditions were similar to how the earlier session had ended, with the track starting to cool slowly as running began.

As in the opening session, teams were permitted to run prototype Pirelli tyres that are due to be introduced at the British Grand Prix as race tyres. Red Bull, Aston Martin and Mercedes sent both of their drivers out on the prototype tyres to begin with, while Ferrari opted to send Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr out on soft tyres straight away, both now running the updated bodywork on the SF-23.

Sainz quickly improved on the team’s best from the opening session, setting a 1’14.999 to go fastest of all, while team mate Leclerc were just over two tenths slower, putting his Ferrari into second place. George Russell, who had suffered from porpoising in the opening session, continued to complain about bouncing in his Mercedes through the high speed right handers of turns three and nine.

Verstappen switched from the prototype tyres to a set of mediums and jumped to the front of the times with a 1’14.968, fractionally quicker than Sainz. Determined to reclaim the top spot, Sainz took a new set of softs and took almost seven tenths off Verstappen to move back into first place. But it did not last long, however, as team mate Leclerc beat him by almost three hundredths of a second.

Verstappen fitted another set of soft tyres and moved back to the top of the times sheet with the first lap under 1’14 of the day. Fernando Alonso attempted a push lap on softs and moved up to second place, but was over a tenth off Verstappen’s best.

After the half way stage of the session, focus turned to longer, higher-fuel runs. Verstappen ventured out for a run on the medium tyres, while most of his rivals decided to run on the soft. Verstappen then pittedto switch onto the red marked tyre himself as the entire field continued to conduct race simulation runs in the final third of the session.

There were no improvements in the final part of the session, meaning that Verstappen retained his position at the top of the times. Alonso was second, 0.170s behind the championship leader, followed by Hulkenberg

Sergio Perez was fourth in the second Red Bull, with Esteban Ocon fifth for Alpine. The two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz were sixth and seventh ahead of Russell’s Mercedes. Valtteri Bottas and Pierre Gasly were the final cars in the top ten as the session came to a close.

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2023 Spanish Grand Prix second practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’13.907		33
2	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’14.077	0.170	29
3	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’14.177	0.270	31
4	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’14.219	0.312	29
5	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’14.242	0.335	29
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’14.246	0.339	31
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’14.274	0.367	31
8	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’14.392	0.485	31
9	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’14.448	0.541	31
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’14.457	0.550	28
11	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’14.549	0.642	30
12	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’14.583	0.676	29
13	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’14.585	0.678	28
14	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’14.694	0.787	29
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’14.713	0.806	23
16	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’14.785	0.878	33
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’14.840	0.933	34
18	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’15.010	1.103	30
19	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’15.056	1.149	31
20	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’15.415	1.508	32

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2023 Spanish Grand Prix

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