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Leclerc lost control of his Ferrari at the high-speed Turn 4, spinning into the wall to draw the red flag.
It came as Ferrari looked to understand a new floor on his car, one designed to address some of the unpredictability that had been introduced with a development in Spain.
Leclerc’s moment came with 17 minutes gone.
The Monegasque had run wide on exit of the Turn 4 left-hander, bottoming the Ferrari on the kerb and pitching him into a spin and the barrier on driver’s left – which sustained heavy damage and led to a 15-minute delay.
He quickly reported he was fine and climbed free of the wreckage, where he examined the rear-left wheel before being collected by the medical car.
Oscar Piastri broke from the herd in the early moments of the session with a set of hard compound tyres, the only driver on track on the compound in the early minutes.
That choice left him well down the order, not helped by dropping a wheel into the gravel at Turn 12 as he negotiated his way beyond one of the Haas drivers.
There was clearly a different plan for McLaren, with Norris also on the white-walled rubber when he did emerge on track.
Having swapped onto the soft tyres, Norris went fastest with a 1:17.788s with around 20 minutes remaining, a time that would prove fastest as the qualifying simulation phase of the session drew to a close.
Thereafter, he headed back to the hard compound set he’d used earlier in the session.
Piastri lost time as damage to the underside of his McLaren was repaired, having had a spell in the shed during Free Practice 1 as a pressure leak was found in his car.
The Australian eventually got back on track on a set of hard tyres, as he had earlier in proceedings, though ended the hour in 13th.
Sergio Perez had a spell at the top of the timesheets with his first timed lap in the session, bumping Lewis Hamilton by two-tenths.
Team-mate Max Verstappen was less confident, complaining about the brakes in his car as he slotted in only fifth quickest at the first attempt.
The Dutchman was able to eventually improve, rising to second fastest but still more than a tenth slower than his team-mate.
Hamilton led proceedings early on a set of medium compound tyres with a 1:18.891s.
That became third best by the time others completed their laps, dropping behind Perez and team-mate George Russell.
On a set of soft tyres after the Leclerc red flag, Russell went fastest followed by Hamilton.
The big gains came through the middle part of the lap, sacrificing the early corners to preserve the tyres for the latter part of the lap.
Strong early pace from Daniel Ricciardo left the RB driver fourth fastest.
RB had been on the fringes of the top 10 in the opening hour, Ricciardo himself in 12th and three-tenths away from team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
His 1:19.008s in the opening moments of Free Practice 2 left him only four-tenths back from the pace setting Red Bull Racing.
Under the Leclerc red flag, RB made a front suspension change to Tsunoda’s car.
The squad had made a change followed Free Practice 1 which had taken his car in the wrong direction, leaving him only 17th under the stoppage.
It meant he missed out on a single-lap run with the rest of the pack, leaving him artificially down the order in 19th, while Ricciardo ended it an encouraging eighth.
Elsewhere, Zhou Guanyu had a frightening moment, coming close to repeating Leclerc’s error just minutes after the red flag had been withdrawn.
The Sauber driver clattered the exit kerb at Turn 4, spinning down the track and narrowly avoiding Perez in the process.
Zhou laid the blame at the Red Bull driver’s feet, though in reality he was well clear and, in normal circumstances, the Mexican would have been off the racing line.
The opening day suggested Ferrari has good single lap pace, as does McLaren, though in race trim the Red Bull Racing looks the car to beat.
