Having had to watch Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes claim the morning session, Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari fought back to top the timing sheets , showing the three-times World Champion the way.

The first lap in the 1 minute 12 range was more than enough for Raikkonen to end the day fastest with Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel rounding out the top three.

Following on from the chaos this morning, more drivers fell foul of mechanical issues and waning grip levels.

Whilst one Spaniard in Carlos Sainz recovered from his morning engine troubles, Fernando Alonso spent most of the time in the McLaren garage and surrounding areas, as his mechanics worked away on his car after a hydraulic pressure issue saw his limited FP1 end. But, he eventually did creep out and managed to put in the seventh fastest time on fresh ultrasofts.

His former employers Ferrari proved to be the early pace setters, Vettel just edging Raikkonen off of top spot with the Ferrari powered Toro Rosso Daniil Kvyat settling into third; both the Mercedes cars yet to emerge.

Spins

On another Ferrari related note, Romain Grosjean endured familiar brake issues, spinning at Turn 6 on consecutive laps early on - but he's not the only man that's found himself pointing at the entry of the corner throughout the course of today. A fuming Grosjean went on to spin once more at Turn 2, albeit through suspected driver error on that occasion.

Hamilton and Bottas resumed their place at the front on their first runs of the afternoon, Bottas finding good pace on the soft compound tyres to split the Ferrari cars, whilst Hamilton move swiftly from fourth to first, less than one-hundredth of a second ahead of pacesetter Raikkonen.

Their supposed nearest rivals Red Bull had many problems; Max Verstappen moaned that "nothing is working" and was told to calm down by Gianpeiro Lambiase on his way to fifth, whilst Daniel Ricciardo's smile faded as he reported "a loss of power".

Ricciardo's afternoon ended untimely. | Photo: Getty Images/Dan Istitene
Ricciardo's afternoon ended untimely. | Photo: Getty Images/Dan Istitene

The Australian's power problems ended his session just as Qualifying simulations ruled. Raikkonen and Vettel had the measure of Bottas with Hamilton the last to run on the ultrasofts, only able to trail Raikkonen by two-tenths.

As we approached the last twenty minutes, Verstappen brought out the red flags as he ground to a halt at Turn 6 with smoke pouring from his TAG branded Renault power unit, to complete a miserable day for Red Bull.

Race runs encourage mischief

That marked the end of any fast running, with attentions turning to race programmes, with Vettel and Hamilton getting under each other's feet - the German complained about the Brit deliberately holding him up.

They weren't the only pair to engage in an unwanted battle, Sainz and Kevin Magnussen reignited their Spanish Grand Prix fight, leaving the former under investigation.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION - FREE PRACTICE 2
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Kimi RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1:12.935 - 41
2 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes 1:13.150 +0.215 41
3 Sebastian VETTEL Ferrari 1:13.200 +0.265 41
4 Valtteri BOTTAS Mercedes 1:13.310 +0.375 42
5 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull 1:13.388 +0.453 25
6 Felipe MASSA Williams 1:14.063 +1.128 38
7 Fernando ALONSO McLaren 1:14.245 +1.310 19
8 Esteban OCON Force India 1:14.299 +1.364 46
9 Daniil KVYAT Toro Rosso 1:14.461 +1.526 38
10 Sergio PEREZ Force India 1:14.501 +1.566 41
11 Romain GROSJEAN Haas 1:14.566 +1.631 33
12 Nico HULKENBERG Renault 1:14.604 +1.669 38
13 Carlos SAINZ Toro Rosso 1:14.621 +1.686 43
14 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas 1:14.676 +1.741 35
15 Daniel RICCIARDO Red Bull 1:15.072 +2.137 8
16 Jolyon PALMER Renault 1:15.127 +2.192 40
17 Lance STROLL Williams 1:15.240 +2.305 40
18 Marcus ERICSSON Sauber 1:15.611 +2.676 31
19 Stoffel VANDOORNE McLaren 1:15.624 +2.689 20
20 Pascal WEHRLEIN Sauber 1:16.308 +3.373 31

 

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About the author
James Eagles
Freelance sports journalist. Arsenal, F1 and Andre Lotterer fan.