Red Bull Racing might be far ahead of everyone else but there is a potentially intense title battle that could play out between teammates Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Early on, Verstappen and Perez passed pole-sitter Leclerc and continued to exchange fastest lap times at the front of the field.
With Leclerc adding to his pole positions from 2021 and 2022, Verstappen taking second, and Sergio Perez taking third in the other Red Bull.
It seems likely that Verstappen will be the one to claim maximum points on the day but one should not forget Perez's skills when it comes to a street circuit.
Alonso is aware that if they want to keep their current position, they will need to compete closely with Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari.
If the decision is ruled in the Brazilian's favour, Massa could become the last driver to win a driver's championship with Ferrari.
After 20 minutes of FP2, Alonso had the fastest lap with a time of 1 minute, 18.887 seconds. Verstappen was in third place, 0.615 seconds behind Alonso and Leclerc.
While the casual fan might be okay with doing away with practice, hardcore fans will have a massive problem.
Alonso finished second overall with two rounds completed in 2023, trailing only the Red Bull drivers in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
It follows a period of deterioration for McLaren, during which the team finished fourth in 2021 and fifth in 2022. They haven't accrued any points after the first two races in 2023...