Spanish GP: Mercedes' Hamilton stays on top in second practice

Hamilton, who topped Friday morning's session at Barcelona by 0.029 seconds from Bottas, was almost a tenth up on the Finn this time, ending the day with a best lap of 1m20.802s.

Mercedes' main rival Ferrari was again adrift, albeit closer than it had been in the morning session, Kimi Raikkonen leading its effort with a time three tenths off the pace.

There was a pace disparity between the Mercedes pair early, with Bottas needing just one flying lap on medium to move into top spot with a 1m23.062s lap.

Hamilton slotted in behind the Ferraris after a big slide at the chicane during his first proper effort and then improved but still ended the run more than half-a-second off.

Ferrari was the first team onto soft tyres with an hour left, championship leader Sebastian Vettel and then Raikkonen lowering the benchmark.

However the Mercedes drivers moved back to the top, with Hamilton leading Bottas by 0.090s.

None of the top four frontrunners improved with their second push, Raikkonen finishing 0.310s adrift and Vettel 0.418s behind.

Raikkonen's long-run programme was interrupted briefly when he was called into the pits with a suspected engine problem, after being instructed to use part throttle, but driving through and straight back out on track.

While he did not encounter any further engine problems, Raikkonen did have a run-in with the Force India of Sergio Perez at Turn 5.

Trying to pass Perez around the outside, Raikkonen was forced to back out and subsequently radioed Ferrari saying he had been "pushed off".

For his part, Vettel also had a late moment at Turn 4, a snap forcing him to drive out of the gravel.

Like Ferrari, Red Bull was closer to the pace in the afternoon session.

Last year's Spanish GP winner Max Verstappen was again ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, by one tenth and finishing 0.636s off Hamilton's best despite a scrappy session.

Verstappen's biggest incident of the afternoon was a slide and trip through the gravel at Turn 9 early on, which the team attributed to a gust of wind.

Renault was close behind the Red Bulls, seventh-placed Nico Hulkenberg ending the session as the last driver within a second of Hamilton, while Jolyon Palmer was eighth, after stepping aside for Sergey Sirotkin for the morning.

Felipe Massa was ninth for Williams, while Carlos Sainz Jr completed the top 10, having caused a brief red flag an hour in when his Toro Rosso shed debris after running over the exit kerbs at Turn 9.

McLaren's fortunes were mixed again, with Stoffel Vandoorne enjoying a reasonable session in 13th while Fernando Alonso wound up 20th and last.

Alonso, who missed FP1 due to a Honda engine failure, only emerged half an hour into the session after an engine change, and had to wait longer to complete proper runs.

Having turned a session-low 21 laps, Alonso ranted on the radio at one stage that: "The engine feels good. Much slower than before. Amazing."

PRACTICE TWO RESULTS: