Max Verstappen came in third. He gave more than three tenths of a second to Leclerc.
Nyck de Vries made his debut during an official Formula 1 session, on behalf of Wílliams as a replacement for Alex Albon. The Mercedes reserve driver recorded the eighteenth time. Although De Vries was three seconds slower than Leclerc, he was a fraction faster than ‘teammate’ Nicholas Latifi. The latter’s future is being speculated on after a poor start to the season and a number of crashes. Latifi made no attempt to improve his time in the final phase and drove a longer run on the medium tyre.
In the warm and for Friday standards already very busy Barcelona, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton came to the fourth and sixth time. Like Ferrari, Mercedes has brought a large package of upgrades to Barcelona and both drivers also drive with a new engine. Together with Fernando Alonso (fifth), they were the only ones to stay within a second of Leclerc’s time.
Nyck De Vries during his debut in Formula 1.
ANP/HH
At Red Bull, rookie Juri Vips stepped in as a replacement for Sergio Pérez. The Formula 2 driver from Estonia did not come to a fast lap. He set the slowest time on the boards, four seconds behind Leclerc.
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