Free Practice 2 concluded with heightened anticipation ahead of qualifying later today. A normally sunny Spanish track was met with dark clouds and dewy conditions. Despite that, the 20 drivers got stuck in all the same. With the countdown to the duels underway, read back at the key takeaways from FP2.
Damp Track Surfaces
Yesterday’s free practice session benefitted from the warm and sunny weather, but with cold conditions last night, the drivers arrive to a wet track this morning. This means not only will it take longer to effectively heat up the tyres, but the drivers now need anticipate surface spray and a loss of traction.
To get ahead of this, the teams wasted no time heading out on track. As the competitive times came in, it was Nico Müller who hit the top of the timetable first. A 1:41.846 cleared him of reigning champion Oliver Rowland by three seconds, despite the Porsche driver having colder tyres and traffic.
Jake Dennis was the first to fall victim to the wet conditions. Entering the braking zone, the car simply did now have the traction, forcing him into the gravel. Luckily, he was able to keep the car going. Norman Nato and Félix de Costa also suffered from a lot of oversteer on their early push laps. The damp conditions continued to impact the drivers. De Costa was able to maintain control of his car and was able to beat the Porsches for fastest lap at the time.
Struggles Come from Across The Grid
Grip remained a major concern for most drivers. Midway in the session, Lucas Di Grassi had a similar incident to Dennis prior, braking too late and running into the gravel. He spent the session battling the car around the circuit but did manage to peak at P11. Jean Eric Vergne complained how unhappy he was during the session, commenting on how grip was an issue.
“Uh, problem is not really the brakes, I just have no grip” – JEV
The Citroen driver continued to struggle throughout the session, sitting in last place as FP2 entered its final ten minutes. Mortara and De Vries in the Mahindra car also seemed to be struggling with grip. On board footage showed the two fighting oversteer and a lack of traction. On De Vries flying lap, he lost control of the rear, which impacted his lap attempt.
Dan Ticktum was the third driver to visit the gravel. He topped the time table in yesterday’s FP1 session but was sat in the bottom 5 for the majority of today’s session. Once the drivers began their qualifying simulated laps, he managed second fastest, half a second off Mortara.
Push Laps Getting Better and Better
De Vries produced a lap that looked untouchable for a while, but by the chequered flag, he was only fourth fastest. Seemingly out of nowhere, the two Frenchmen Nato and Vergne crossed the line to beat the Mahindra, Nato by only 6 hundredths of a second. In the end, it was the young Brazilian driver Felipe Drugovich who finished FP1 fastest, with a 1:38.796.
Further down the order, the home hero Josep Maria Martí finished this second free practice session only 16th fastest. Unfortunate session for Cupra Kiro as Ticktum ended one position ahead of his teammate in P15.
Sebastien Buemi had a solid and tame session, reaching 7th fastest at the flag. His teammate, however, had major issues throughout free practice 2. In the end, Joel Eriksson was not able to complete an effective Quali-sim lap. He took the final spot, 5.4 seconds slower than Drugovich. With rain forecasted to make an appearance during qualifying, Envision Racing will be fully focused on fixing the issues raised in this morning’s session.