Bottas leads Hamilton again as Mercedes enjoy commanding Friday over Ferrari and Red Bull; Watch Saturday's Spanish GP qualifying at 2pm on Sky F1, build-up from 1pm
Friday 10 May 2019 19:26, UK
Championship leader Valtteri Bottas maintained his early advantage over Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish GP as Mercedes outpaced Ferrari in second practice.
Barcelona is being viewed as a key early test of Bottas' world title candidature with the sweeping circuit considered a Hamilton stronghold, with the Englishman winning in 2017 and 2018.
Bottas' best lap of 1:17.284 edged out Hamilton by 0.049s, with Mercedes clear of Ferrari by a 0.3-second margin despite the Scuderia's engine upgrade.
"It's looking pretty ominious. They have well and truly dominated the session," said Sky F1's Karun Chandhok after Mercedes' advantage continued on the later heavy-fuel long runs.
Charles Leclerc was fractionally the faster of the two Ferrari drivers in third place, but he and Sebastian Vettel's pressing concern overnight will be to close down what appears an early deficit to Mercedes.
"You look at the Mercedes on track and you think it looks a bit loose, and when you look at the Ferrari it looks so smooth. It's just the track time isn't there," said Sky F1's Jenson Button, who is part of the channel's line-up all weekend.
"But I think the battle is going to be a lot closer tomorrow than it is right now."
Red Bull, armed with their own chassis updates, were fifth and seventh fastest, with lead runner Max Verstappen 0.7s off the pace.
Splitting the two Red Bulls was Romain Grosjean in a Haas car that featured more aerodynamic revisions than most. Team-mate Kevin Magnussen's car was equipped with the Baku-spec package and was eighth, two tenths adrift.
Either way, Haas look poised to lead the midfield this weekend after a troubling run of three races without a point.
McLaren's Carlos Sainz, this year's sole Spanish represenative, and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat completed the top 10, but Renault were again down the midfield order despite Daniel Ricciardo running their upgraded engine.
Bottas maintains momentum
No driver has yet claimed pole position after topping Practice Two this season, but Bottas, fresh from his second victory of the year a fortnight ago in Baku, appears in the form to change that statistic.
"It's really fun watching him because you can tell, even though he's got his crash helmet on, there's such confidence there," said Button, the 2009 world champion.
"He's able to push this car to the limit, over the limit, but he's understanding where that is. It's really nice to see and would say at the moment he seems to have that confidence in the car that Lewis probably doesn't quite have yet.
"[Lewis] will I'm sure by the time qualifying comes round because he always does, but it's really good to see he's got a challenge from Valtteri."
Watch the Spanish GP live only on Sky Sports F1 this weekend. Sunday's race starts at 2.10pm. Sky Sports is the home of live and exclusive F1. Find out more here to watch the 2019 season live
