Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver, ahead of Lando Norris (+0.003) and Carlos Sainz (+0.103). Kevin Magnussen crashed in turn 7 and the session was briefly red-flagged.
There was immediately a lot of action in FP2, as everybody went out on track. The only drivers to remain in the pits were Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, and George Russell. The latter had to wait for his mechanics to fix his car after Andrea Kimi Antonelli heavily crashed his W15 in FP1.
Turn 1 still proved to be tricky for many, as finding the right breaking point wasn’t easy due to the newly resurfaced track. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz went fastest, 0.341s ahead of Lando Norris and 0.346s ahead of Max Verstappen.
Charles Leclerc later improved his teammate’s time by going 0.145s faster.
Perez had to wait to hit the track since Red Bull decided to change his transmission to avoid issues with it.
The previous times were set with medium tires, then Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri, and Norris fitted soft tires. The latter set the fastest time, with Piastri just 0.007s behind, while Hamilton only went fourth fastest.
The rest of the field then fitted soft tires, and after the run, it was the seven-time world champion ahead of everyone else, with Norris just 0.003s behind. Sainz was third, with Piastri and Leclerc fourth and fifth. Nico Hülkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, and Valtteri Bottas completed the top ten.
Meanwhile, both Mercedes drivers complained about feeling the seat too hot. The session was then red-flagged since Kevin Magnussen hit the barriers at the exit of turn 7.
With 18 minutes to go, the session resumed. Every team’s plan was to simulate the race pace simulation. McLaren was really competitive, while Red Bull and Ferrari tried to match the British outfit’s lap times.
Russell also took the time to fit soft tires and try one flying lap. He only managed to go seventh-fastest.