Mercedes stayed on top in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix but no one was able to beat Valtteri Bottas’s best time from the morning session.

Lewis Hamilton topped the times at the end of the second 90 minutes of practice. However he was one of several drivers who found it difficult to extract more performance from the softest tyres available this weekend.

Hamilton’s 1’18.259 on super-softs put him on top by a tenth of a second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. Both Red Bulls featured in the top three, Max Verstappen followed by Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas.

Kimi Raikkonen, sixth, brought his session to an early end with a suspected power unit problem on his Ferrari. Its engine note changed noticeably at the exit of turn nine, after which he was told to park up.

The Haas drivers led the following runners. Romain Grosjean was the quickest of the pair despite spinning into a gravel trap at turn seven earlier in the session.

Stoffel Vandoorne put his McLaren ninth ahead of Sergio Perez. The Force India driver missed the final minutes of running after stopped with a loose left-front wheel.

The quickest of the Renault drivers was Nico Hulkenberg in 13th place, followed by Pierre Gasly in the first of the Toro Rossos. The two Williams drivers ended a dismal day of practice at the bottom of the times sheets.

Second practice visual gaps

Lewis Hamilton – 1’18.259

+0.133 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’18.392

+0.274 Max Verstappen – 1’18.533

+0.326 Sebastian Vettel – 1’18.585

+0.352 Valtteri Bottas – 1’18.611

+0.570 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’18.829

+1.320 Romain Grosjean – 1’19.579

+1.384 Kevin Magnussen – 1’19.643

+1.463 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’19.722

+1.703 Sergio Perez – 1’19.962

+1.765 Esteban Ocon – 1’20.024

+1.776 Fernando Alonso – 1’20.035

+1.924 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’20.183

+2.114 Pierre Gasly – 1’20.373

+2.242 Marcus Ericsson – 1’20.501

+2.255 Charles Leclerc – 1’20.514

+2.413 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’20.672

+3.006 Brendon Hartley – 1’21.265

+3.297 Lance Stroll – 1’21.556

+3.801 Sergey Sirotkin – 1’22.060

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

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2018 Spanish Grand Prix

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