F1 Spanish GP: Oscar Piastri fastest in FP2 from George Russell

Piastri Leads in FP2 at the Spanish Grand Prix

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri topped the timing sheets in the second practice session for the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, setting a blistering lap time of 1m12.760s.

Piastri’s performance came halfway through the one-hour session, where he surpassed George Russell of Mercedes, who had previously held the lead. The Australian’s soft-tyre run solidified his position at the top as teams began transitioning towards long-run simulations later in the session.

Lando Norris, Piastri’s McLaren teammate, started strong, initially clocking a time of 1m13.636s on medium tyres. This was followed by Russell’s impressive 1m13.046s on softs just 23 minutes into the session, briefly placing him in front, but Piastri quickly reclaimed the top spot.

The session concluded with Piastri finishing 0.286 seconds ahead of Russell, with Max Verstappen and Norris both trailing by 0.310 seconds. Charles Leclerc rounded out the top five for Ferrari after overtaking teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Notably, Fernando Alonso secured a commendable seventh position in front of his home crowd, with Pierre Gasly in eighth. Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson completed the top ten for Racing Bulls.

The only significant incident was Oliver Bearman’s spin into the gravel at Turn 3, which forced his Haas to the garage for repairs. He ended the session in 19th, ahead of Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.