Hamilton on top in Spanish Grand Prix practice

BARCELONA :Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on top of the Friday practice timesheets at the Spanish Grand Prix with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz second fastest in front of his home fans at the Circuit de Catalunya and four teams closely matched.

McLaren's Lando Norris had set the pace in first practice, 0.024 quicker than Red Bull's triple Formula One world champion Max Verstappen, and the Briton was third in the second FP2 session.

Verstappen dropped to fifth in that session, albeit on slower medium tyres compared to others on softs, with Alpine's Pierre Gasly a surprisingly fast fourth and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc sixth.

Seven times world champion Hamilton set a best time of one minute 13.264 seconds, 0.022 quicker than Sainz, after Norris had led FP1 with a lap of 1:14.228.

Sainz was third on those first practice timesheets as Formula One prepares for a triple-header of races on successive weekends.

Verstappen's team mate Sergio Perez, who will have a three place grid penalty on Sunday carried over from Canada, was fifth and 13th respectively.

Mercedes's George Russell was eighth in session two, just behind McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

The lap times compared to last year's first free practice best of 1:14.606, when the then-dominant Red Bulls were one-two and Verstappen a mighty 0.768 quicker than Perez, and Verstappen's 1:13.907 in 2023's second session.

The battle at the top has got a lot closer since then and there were five teams in the top five in Friday's second session after four in the top four earlier in the day.

The gap between Hamilton and Sauber's Valtteri Bottas in 10th place in second practice was 0.660, while only 0.683 separated Norris and seventh placed Hamilton in the first.

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