Spanish Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Piastri beats Russell and Verstappen

Oscar Piastri dominated the second practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix, confirming McLaren’s impressive form at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit. The world championship leader completed his best lap in 1:12.760, ahead of George Russell by 0.286 seconds and Max Verstappen by 0.3 seconds.

This performance is a turnaround for the Australian driver, who had finished 0.576 seconds behind his teammate Lando Norris in the first morning session. Piastri, who has a three-point lead over Norris in the championship, showed the fastest sectors in all three sections of the circuit during his reference lap.

Mercedes finds its groove again

George Russell had a solid session for Mercedes, occupying the second final place after temporarily leading the standings in the middle of the session. The Brit first set the benchmark at 1:13.501 on medium tires before improving to 1:13.046 on soft tires. His teammate Kimi Antonelli also showed good form, finishing sixth, two-tenths behind Russell.

The German team seems to have found a better balance compared to the morning, where both cars had only run on medium tires unlike their rivals who had opted for soft tires.