Lewis Hamilton headed a Mercedes 1-2 during second practice for Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix though only three-quarters of a second covered the top 10.
Mercedes has traditionally thrived at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where it has taken each of the last eight pole positions, with Hamilton on a four-year victory streak.
Drivers ran Soft tyres during warm conditions at the Catalan venue and World Champion Hamilton worked his way down to a 1:18.170s.
Hamilton’s lap left him 0.139s clear of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, though the Mercedes drivers only held a slender margin over the opposition.
That group was not led by perennial challengers Red Bull as the outfit had an atypically subdued session.
Max Verstappen squandered his Soft tyre run when he ran deep into the revised Turn 10 complex and had to abandon his lap.
Sergio Perez, meanwhile, simply lacked overall pace on his Soft tyre run, leaving the Red Bull drivers at the foot of the top 10.
Leclerc, Alpine get in the mix
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc wound up third, just 0.165s off Hamilton, while Alpine built on its promising Portimao pace to take fourth and fifth, with Esteban Ocon edging team-mate Fernando Alonso.
AlphaTauri, having scraped just one point five days ago, displayed a level of performance more akin to the opening pair of grands prix.
Pierre Gasly took sixth, narrowly ahead of rookie team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, while Carlos Sainz was eighth overall, just 0.504s behind leader Hamilton.
McLaren slightly off the pace
McLaren holds third position in both championships but had a relatively subdued Friday by its recent improved standards.
Lando Norris delivered a far from stellar lap as he finished in 12th place, one position behind four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel, while Daniel Ricciardo was only 15th.
They were split by Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, with Kimi Raikkonen 16th.
Williams and Haas a long way off
Raikkonen finished just over a second behind leader Hamilton but behind him was a gap of over seven-tenths back to nearest opponent George Russell.
Russell, who secured Williams’ best grid spot since 2018 at Portimao, had to settle for only 17th on Friday afternoon at Barcelona, a tenth of a second and one position ahead of team-mate Nicholas Latifi.
Haas, as expected, brought up the rear of the 20-car field.
Mick Schumacher maintained his superiority over team-mate Nikita Mazepin, with the rookie pair separated by four-tenths of a second across their Soft tyre runs.
Saturday’s final practice session is scheduled for 12:00 local time
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