Max Verstappen finished third in the first free practice session in Spain on Friday behind the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Nyck de Vries put in a good turn by outperforming teammate Nicholas Latifi in his first practice ever.
De Vries was allowed to drive the first free practice session in the car of Alexander Albon at Williams and did so properly. Besides being slightly faster than Latifi, the 27-year-old Dutchman made no mistakes. His time of 1.22.930 was good for eighteenth place.
De Vries was 0.091 seconds faster than Latifi’s lap. The Canadian is under pressure at Williams because he does not perform and causes a lot of crashes.
Verstappen fast on hard, Ferrari faster on the soft tires
Verstappen started the training with the fastest time on the hard tires. When the switch was made to the red soft tires, both Leclerc and Sainz proved faster. The Dutchman drove 1.20.164 and gave up 0.336 seconds on the fastest lap of World Cup leader Leclerc.
Ferrari has the necessary updates for the car this weekend. There is a new floor, the sidepods have been slightly modified and there is a new rear wing on the car. There are fewer innovations at Red Bull, but according to Verstappen the necessary weight savings have been made.
Mercedes drivers not satisfied despite less bounce
Mercedes also showed the necessary innovations. The car seemed to suffer considerably less from the bounce that has plagued Lewis Hamilton and George Russell since the start of the season. Despite this, the drivers were still not satisfied with the balance. Hamilto clocked the sixth fastest time, just a few seconds behind Leclerc. Russell was slightly faster with the fourth time at more than seven tenths.
A debutant also got in at Red Bull. Formula 2 driver Juri Vips was given the car of Sergio Pérez for an hour. The 21-year-old driver from Estonia did not exactly pick up the pace. Vips finished last in training in the Red Bull, one second behind the 19th clocked Latifi. The talent was four seconds short of Verstappen’s time.
Spain GP Timetable
- Second free practice: Friday 5 p.m.
- Third free practice: Saturday 1 p.m.
- Qualification: Saturday 4 p.m.
- Race: Sunday 3 p.m.