Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) secured the best time in the first free practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix. The world championship leader achieved a best time of 1:19.828 minutes, putting his teammates Carlos Sainz (+0.079) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull/+0.336) in second place.
Interesting: Barcelona is traditionally the weekend of the big technology updates, and both Ferrari and Red Bull have followed suit. While Ferrari has adapted the underbody and the rear wing, the underbody and the front wing are new for Red Bull. And the RB18 has lost weight, “because our car is still too fat,” Verstappen grins.
Also interesting: Verstappen set the best time in the first sector, 0.102 seconds ahead of Leclerc. But in the second sector he lost 0.105 and in the third 0.155 seconds to the Ferrari driver. Sergio Perez did not play in the first practice session. In his place, Red Bull Junior Juri Vips finished 20th and last, 4.310 seconds back
Misunderstanding between Hamilton and Alonso
As so often, there was a first gap in the classification behind the top 3. George Russell in the completely overhauled Mercedes (including underbody and front wing end plate) took fourth place, but was already 0.762 seconds behind the best time. Fernando Alonso (Alpine/+0.940) was fifth, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes/+0.983) sixth.
There was a near-collision between Alonso and Hamilton when Hamilton was on his fastest lap when he ran into Alonso and was simply overlooked by the Spaniard. Hamilton had to drive onto the curbs on the outside and probably lost the 0.221 seconds that Russell was missing in the end. The FIA is investigating the incident after the session.
For the teams, the first free practice session was more important than ever because, with the exception of Haas, everyone in Barcelona is coming out with some significant updates. McLaren has reported ten new components to the FIA, Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin at least eight. The B version of the Aston Martin was initially the general topic of conversation on Friday.
Aston Martin legal according to the FIA
Because Sebastian Vettel’s green racer is amazingly similar to the Red Bull in the area of the sidepods. The FIA made sure in the course of an investigation that everything was done correctly. But Red Bull is of the opinion that the design must be copied from the RB18.
Vettel was 15th when he went out on fresh softs at the very end of the session. Apparently he wasn’t aiming for a time chase though as the German couldn’t improve and finished 16th – 0.018s behind Mick Schumacher (15th/Haas) and 0.244s behind teammate Lance Stroll (12th).
How strong are the McLaren updates?
McLaren presented themselves strongly, traditionally rather conservative on Friday morning. Lando Norris was seventh, half a second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. “It was positive that we had a good session and no problems with the new parts,” analyzed team boss Andreas Seidl in an interview with ‘ORF’.
But: Ricciardo with more new parts was half a second slower than Norris. Seidl puts it into perspective: “We drove different configurations with the two cars. It was a positive start. But it’s still far too early to say where we stand. The others have also brought updates.”