Raikkonen blows up as gap at the top closes again

Kimi Raikkonen's hopes of victory at the Spanish Grand Prix potentially went up in smoke in Friday's second practice session as he was forced to limp to the pits after suffering a suspected engine failure. The usual guessing game on Friday appears harder than ever with Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull as evenly matched as they have been all year.

KIMI GOES POP

Raikkonen has generally been superb on Friday's in 2018, although team-mate Sebastian Vettel has found a way to outdo him come the weekend, however the Finn will start behind the eight ball this weekend.

This weekend's race is the 100th since Raikkonen's last victory in F1.

With just over half an hour remaining in Friday's second session, Raikkonen's car spat out a plume of smoke from its rear-end and his team immediately radioed to have the car stopped.

That's not meant to sound like that ????????

Kimi's FP2 running came to a premature end with a power unit issue#F1 ???????? #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/VrOoXywLIs — Formula 1 (@F1) May 11, 2018

Raikkonen smartly switched his car off, but took advantage of momentum, and a helpful downhill run to the pits in order to return the car to the garage without the need for a truck and crane.

Ferrari's offered an immediate diagnosis on Twitter: "Telemetry showed a malfunctioning in the power unit area."

RED BULL CLOSE THE GAP AGAIN

Not that Red Bull ever can afford to score zero points in a race, but they must take advantage of what appears to be supreme race pace here.

One-lap clues were hard to come by on Friday, although Lewis Hamilton went quickest of all with a headline time of one minute 18.259 seconds.

Positions one to six were covered by half a second, but Raikkonen of course did not show us all that he's capable of.

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were tucked in behind Hamilton in second and third but looked impressive on long-run pace - averaging four seconds per lap quicker than the world champion.

The Red Bulls looked similarly ominous in Bahrain, only to suffer a double DNF, and the team's sharpened senses after the Baku incident will be needed if they are to make good on their potential.

FEATHER IN KUBICA'S CAP

Robert Kubica ended the day as Williams' fastest driver over one lap, perhaps strengthening the Pole's chances of earning a future race drive.

READ MORE: Kubica makes grand prix return

It looks like being a weekend of struggle for Williams, who were bottom of the timesheets in both sessions.

Further ahead, the new-look McLaren turned heads on Thursday and Friday, but a new nose cone has not propelled them much further forward.

Stoffel Vandoorne was ninth-fastest, with Fernando Alonso in 12th, and a first appearance in Q3 will have to be well-earned on Saturday.