Charles Leclerc dominated Friday at the Spanish Grand Prix and set the fastest time in both free practice sessions in Barcelona. After 1:19,828 minutes in FT1, he was able to improve to 1:19,670 minutes in FT2, putting the two Mercedes drivers George Russell (+0.117) and Lewis Hamilton (+0.204) in second place.
The fact that Mercedes is so far up front comes as a surprise after the course of the season so far. However, the team is going to Miami again with an update. This time, among other things, the underbody and the front wing end plate are new. Similar to top favorites Ferrari and Red Bull, who have also updated underbody and parts of the wings.
The surprise at the strong Mercedes form is limited by the competition: “I’ve been saying all year that it’s only a matter of time before they get their problems under control,” says the Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.
And the Mercedes updates seem to be having an effect: “The car looked a bit calmer for the driver entering the curve, better to control,” observes “ORF” expert Alexander Wurz. “That was a shortcoming they had because of the loss of grip from that ‘bouncing’.”
Wurz continues: “I believe that Red Bull and Ferrari absolutely have the opportunity to experience pole position here. But the strong times of Russell and Hamilton, at the same time on the track, that’s a nice announcement.”
Hamilton: Big smile on his face
Hamilton couldn’t help but smile after the session: “Positive. I’m super happy with the progress. A big thank you to everyone at the factory! We’re not the fastest yet. That was the first time I was on the straight Didn’t have any ‘bouncing’. It’s not completely gone yet, but it’s a lot better than before.”
Local hero Carlos Sainz was fourth, 0.320s behind his Ferrari teammate in P1. The Spaniard was even a bit slower in the second practice than in the first. Max Verstappen was fifth, 0.336s behind Leclerc but 0.197s ahead of Fernando Alonso (6th/Alpine), the second Spaniard in the field.
Verstappen wasn’t completely satisfied after training: “It’s difficult to find the right balance in the heat. The long runs were okay, I’m satisfied with that. We still have to work on the individual laps,” he says. “Now we have to find the happy medium. At least the weather stays stable, that makes it a bit easier.”
Vettel: How did it go with the “green Red Bull”?
It was eagerly awaited to see how Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll would fare in the revamped Aston Martin, which Helmut Marko criticizes as a clumsy copy of the Red Bull RB18. Vettel was 16th in the first practice session, but was able to move up to eighth in the early evening. Behind Verstappen: 0.697 seconds. Stroll finished 13th.
The session was less than ten minutes old when Valtteri Bottas stopped at the start and finish without moving forward. “Something’s broken,” he radioed to the Alfa Romeo box. First suspicion of “ORF” expert Alexander Wurz: “Motor.” For Bottas, Friday afternoon was over after just three laps.
There were also technical problems at McLaren, the team with the most updates (ten changes reported to the FIA ahead of eight by Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo). Lando Norris was only able to complete six laps because he damaged the underbody when riding over the curb at Turn 9. He finished 20th and last; Daniel Ricciardo finished 15th in FT2.
Günther Steiner praises Mick Schumacher
By the way: The only team that came to Barcelona without any updates is Haas. Despite this, Mick Schumacher (+1.087) finished tenth and Kevin Magnussen (+1.343) twelfth in the second free practice session. Team boss Günther Steiner had already stated before the session that he wanted to wait and see whether the other teams were really making progress with their updates.
A tactic that seems to work, even if Steiner is aware: “You shouldn’t praise the day before the evening. It’s looking good at the moment, I’m satisfied. But qualifying is tomorrow.” He is also happy about Schumacher’s good performance in the ‘ORF’ interview: “You can see that Mick is making progress. That’s nice to see.”