F1 LIVE | Spanish Grand Prix FP2 go underway at the Montmelò of Barcelona

In just under an hour, teams and drivers will be ready to get serious and reveal more of their hand, following a morning session that offered few clear indications, with the track still noticeably green.

The second session will no doubt be far more telling — especially in assessing whether, and to what extent, the FIA’s new technical directive on flexible wings, which comes into effect this weekend at the Spanish GP, will impact car performance and potentially shake up the pecking order.

As has been widely known for some time, all teams will introduce new front wings in Barcelona. While the shape remains unchanged, the carbon fiber layering has been modified to comply with the FIA’s updated flexibility standards.

Specifically, the new wings must now pass three tests: a symmetric static load test (deformation reduced from 15mm to 10mm under a 100kg load, with a 50% increase in stiffness), an asymmetric test (deformation on one side of the wing reduced from 20mm to 15mm, with a 33% increase in stiffness), and finally, a test for the upper flaps, where the maximum rear edge deflection has been cut from 5mm to 3mm — boosting flexural resistance by 66%.

Will that be enough to shake up the pecking order once again? Could McLaren lose some of the significant advantage they’ve built up over the past year? Will Charles Leclerc manage to take his revenge on Lando Norris after narrowly missing out on back-to-back wins in Monaco last weekend?

To find out, we’ll have to wait for the lights to go green. FP2 wil kick off at 17:00 — and as always, you can follow it live on GPBlog.