The Friday in F1 Spanish GP was pretty straightforward as McLaren remained at the helm of things, but others are close behind, with the midfield tight too.
It is too early to understand if the flex wing changes has changed anything significantly as the Friday in F1 Spanish GP at Barcelona didn’t change the pecking order in a huge way. The McLaren pair took turns to top the practice session with Lando Norris on top in FP1 and Oscar Piastri in FP2.
The two felt good enough during the day with decent pace, but they are wary of the competition around them. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen felt positive after the day, even though there is time to find. But teammate Yuki Tsunoda didn’t know why he was slow, as he didn’t make any glaring mistakes.
He was nearly a second off the pace which allowed others to chip in. The Ferrari pair was divided in their opinions. While Charles Leclerc felt a little better, Lewis Hamilton didn’t from FP1 to FP2. The duo are a bit off against McLaren, though, and are not certain to be fighting for pole like Monaco.
After not looking as good in FP1, Mercedes bounced back well in FP2 after some changes in the car. George Russell had better pace to be in the Top 3, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli was happy with the balance where he could push a bit more in FP2 when compared to FP1.
Piastri: “It’s been a bit of an up and down day, obviously ending on an up, which is good. But our competitors look quick. I think Verstappen has been quick all day, Ferrari have been there, Mercedes popped up at the end, so it’s going to be a tight battle tomorrow. There are definitely still some things to try and work on. I think we definitely expected Red Bull to be quick, so that’s not a big surprise. But just trying to make the car a bit faster really, that’s all. We tried a few things today – some have been good, some have not been so good. We’re learning, so I think it’s been a good day.”
Verstappen: “It’s always nice to be here – the track is always very enjoyable to drive. It’s quite hot out there as well, especially for the tyres. But I think it was an okay Friday – we’ve had worse Fridays! I felt a bit happier with the car, we’re still not where we want to be but it was definitely a bit more positive. No, not… I mean every track is a bit different but the feeling, I still want a better feeling from the car. But I’ve also had Fridays where we were completely out of it, so it’s a bit more I would say in the middle. I mean if you look at the standings, not a lot [is different]! From my side that was also not really expected.”
Leclerc: “Honestly, it was a bit more positive than what we expected coming here, so that is good. There is more performance in the car, which I hope we will unlock tomorrow, come Qualifying. Yeah, there is still quite a bit of work to be done, but I don’t think that we are too far out. We’ll focus on a few areas tonight, and let’s see tomorrow.”
Russell: “In the Quali runs we looked pretty decent, so it was nice to be back where the car has been after some tough races. Nevertheless, the long run pace doesn’t look superb and that has been an objective of ours recently, to try and improve the long run pace. We need to go through the data, we need to compare how we fell out compared to our rivals, but definitely the long run pace is a small concern. Yeah, I feel in a good place. I’m enjoying driving this circuit, it felt good out there today, it’s hot. Let’s see what the next two days bring.”
Tsunoda: “[It was] tricky. To be honest, in terms of first day compared to other Grands Prix, it felt pretty smooth. Myself, I think I made progress from FP1 [to] FP2. To be honest, I don’t have any idea why I am slow. The lap was pretty good as well during FP2, and obviously it’s not fully 100% but it’s not the gap that I expected. It’s hard to even tell what kind of exact limitation I have, in terms of balance it’s okay. I’ll have to see what we can improve, but [we’re] struggling. Hopefully we can find something, otherwise it’s really tough,” he conceded. “It’s not like I had a massive mistake and I’m behind compared to competitors quite a lot – if I had [made a] mistake with that result, I’m happy actually, but it’s not like that. [It] probably will be a longer night than usual. I’ll try my best to find the solution, but currently it’s not very clear.”
The Top 10 featured several of the midfield teams, with the Visa Cash App RB pair of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson looking in a better shape collectively. The two felt there is more to explore to be competitive and their direct competition i.e Williams is a bit behind.
The track in general doesn’t suit Williams and it was evident in FP2 when both Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon finished outside the Top 10. The Thai only got to run in FP1 after his car was driven by Victor Martins as part of the rookie regulation set by the FIA.
Haas fielded Ryo Hirakawa in place of Esteban Ocon, who felt the team needs to dig deep to extract performance. Teammate Oliver Bearman was in the Top 10 in FP1, but had a moment in FP2 to loose time and also time to be at the fag end of the pecking order.
Likewise Alpine’s Franco Colapinto struggled in both FP1 and FP2, unlike teammate Pierre Gasly who felt better in the second session to be in the Top 10. He had Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso for company. The Spaniard was so-so on the performance side, as was teammate Lance Stroll.
Sauber, meanwhile, had updates for Nico Hulkenberg to run. The German felt better on balance side straightaway and pushed himself at the upper end of the midfield. Teammate Gabriel Bortoleto did not run the updates, but still had decent pace to try and push itself out of Q1.
Hadjar: “Heading into the weekend, I still feel confident in the car. We had some work to do today, and whilst we’re not entirely happy with the balance yet, it’s always tricky around this circuit with high track temperatures. We’re optimistic that we can make the necessary changes and be competitive tomorrow. It’s going to be tight with the other midfield teams, but everything’s still to play for in Qualifying.”
Alonso: “The car feels similar to the last few events so I don’t think things have changed too much in terms of the new directive on front wings. We’ve been fine-tuning the car setup today and we are having to deal with the warm weather. It’s been a normal Friday for us and it was nice to see all of the fans around the circuit.”
Hulkenberg: “It was a solid Friday overall. No major issues throughout the sessions, although the track conditions were among the hottest we’ve experienced this season so far. The car felt good right from the start. The upgrade package we brought for this weekend appears to be working as intended — the balance has improved, and I felt more confident behind the wheel straight away. Tonight, we’ll go through our usual routine: analyse the data, fine-tune the setup, and look for any further gains. The midfield is extremely tight once again, so every tenth will count. It’s going to be a close fight tomorrow in qualifying.”
Sainz: “It was tough out there today, but we expected it. The type of corners here are not the best for our car and right from the start of FP1, I felt how tricky it was. We tried to do some setup changes, and they seemed to go in the right direction, but we still can’t find enough lap time to be further up. We’ll try to take another step for tomorrow, as there is lots to understand and work on but we’ll keep pushing all weekend!”
Bearman: “It was a tough day, especially this afternoon struggling a little bit with the balance in high speed and having a bit of a moment which lost us some time, so that’s a shame. We have a bit of work to do overnight to work on the predictability of the car, but I think if we can find a good window we can be okay because in FP1 we showed pretty decent pace.”
Colapinto: “It was not the best Friday on my side of the garage with two quite tricky Practice sessions. We struggled with the general balance of the car, especially on the harder compounds. I just did not have a great feeling in the car, so we need to take a look at the data and aim to find some improvements for tomorrow. I am hopeful these are straightforward to find as it is clear there is some pace in the car at this track. We have Free Practice 3 tomorrow where we will need some good running to improve things ahead of Qualifying. We will continue our hard work with the team and I am looking ahead to tomorrow ready for a better performance.”
Martins: “It was an amazing experience to drive Alex’s car this weekend, and I’m super grateful to the team for the opportunity! The car has a lot of power and G-force, but I honestly felt really comfortable in the car. I had to stay focused as the team had a lot they wanted to achieve in the session, and I think it was a productive FP1 for us both. Driving alongside the same drivers I watched growing up was so special and I enjoyed every lap while I was out there!”
Hirakawa: “As always, I’d like to give appreciation to the team for the great opportunity today. The track was really hot, so it was difficult out there and it was really easy to overheat the tyre, so we had to manage that quite a lot. I was suffering in braking, and in general there was lots to improve for FP2, and after the session we debriefed and some of those changes were made before FP2 started. I felt a lot more confident in the car compared to Bahrain and made a big step, and I have more FP1 sessions later in the season so I will keep preparing for them.”
Here’s how FP1 in F1 Spanish GP panned out
Here’s how FP2 in F1 Spanish GP panned out
