Lewis Hamilton topped practice for the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday after his Mercedes boss railed against “lunatic” claims the team were sabotaging the Ferrari-bound seven-time champion’s car. Hamilton, who won his 103rd and last Grand Prix in December, 2021, led a finely-balanced second session with the reigning three-time champion Max Verstappen only fifth for Red Bull. Sunday’s race is the first of a triple header as Formula One returns to Europe where Verstappen was generally expected to reassert his superiority after missing out on two of the past four races. But on the evidence of Friday’s opening two practice sessions Verstappen, who leads the 2024 championship by 56 points, has a real fight on his hands in a refreshing turn of events for impartial F1 fans. Hamilton’s lap of 1min 13.264seconds lifted him atop the timesheets on a sun-blessed day in Catalonia ahead of home hero Carlos Sainz, appearing at his last Spanish Grand Prix weekend as a Ferrari driver. The British driver’s performance came just hours after Mercedes boss Toto Wolff confirmed police were investigating an email from “a lunatic” claiming his team were sabotaging the car of Hamilton who will drive for Ferrari next season. A visibly angry Wolff spoke out in the strongest terms possible over the “upsetting” email which he denied had come from a member of Mercedes’ 1500 workforce and which has been sent to Formula One’s major players including the FIA. “This was not from a member of the team, this email is upsetting, somebody talking about death,” he said. “These lunatics, all those mad people out there – take a shrink.” In hot sunshine, a welcome change after Thursday’s scirocco rain and dust showers from the Sahara, Hamilton was making an early statement of intent at a track where Mercedes celebrated a double podium last year. “I think the car is definitely in a better place,” Hamilton, putting aside all the off-track noise, reported.