The Friday in F1 Spanish GP was all about the updates brought about by several teams and they got full chance to try them with worth load of data.
It was a clean run on Friday in F1 Spanish GP with no major dramas allowing teams, drivers and Pirelli to get through their programme at ease. They collected the data they needed to analyse the updates they are to bring in future.
For Pirelli, it was more about confirming the robustness of the new tyre construction which they will bring about in British GP. It was Red Bull at the front as expected with Max Verstappen showing his might, where even Sergio Perez struggled a bit.
He clawed back some time in FP2 but was a bit far off in FP1, coming off from the Monaco disaster. It was a contrast at Aston Martin too but a bit more than what was seen at Red Bull, with Lance Stroll struggling to get it right against Fernando Alonso.
The Spaniard showed good pace to be second but the Canadian was down in 18th in FP2 just ahead of Williams after failing get a sound lap on the soft compound. At the same time, the likes of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg made merry.
The Frenchman was third in FP1 while the German was third in FP2. Even Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen had a decent running, with the Mercedes pair in a spot of bother. While George Russell had a small moment, Lewis Hamilton didn’t seem too confident.
He reckoned with the pace of Alpine and Haas, it will be difficult for Mercedes as they will have to fight for a place in Q3. There will be Ferrari too, where they ran the larger updates and were there and thereabouts for starters but still behind Red Bull by some time.
Verstappen: “We had a good day today. The car was in a good window, of course we will try to fine tune a few things here and there, but the short runs and long runs look good. The last two corners are better and more fun to drive; F1 cars feel much better at high speed. I tried to follow a few cars through there as well and it seemed okay – I’m positively surprised by the overtaking opportunities. From my side, I felt very comfortable in the car, looking after the tyres. I still need to look at the lap times of others, but from our side it was a good day.”
Hamilton: “It’s okay, we’re fighting as hard as we can. I would say it was a difficult day one, P1 and P2, just getting on top of the tyres and the deg. Our car feels like… the car. “We’re just focusing on… I think the long-run pace didn’t look terrible, we’ve just got to work on trying to figure out how we can extract more on a single lap. I think from the pace that I had today, it’s a struggle for me currently to get into the top 10, but hopefully we’ll do some changes overnight. I think it’s very, very close between us and that middle kind of… After P5 back to kind of P10. It’s really, really close between us all and it’s impressive to see all the improvements that everyone seems to have made all around us. If you look at Ocon, the Alpines are doing great. You saw the Aston Martin in second, right behind the Red Bull, which is really, really impressive. It’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure. I’m just going to try and do the best job I can tonight to make the right set-up changes. There’s definitely improvements I know I can make with the set-up, so I’ll get on top of that.”
Alonso: “I think it’s so tight that one or two-tenths will put you in a completely different spot on the classification, so don’t pay too much attention on the times. We went through all the programme that we had before the free practice, which is a good thing, learning about the tyres. The track is a little bit slower than what we predicted, so there is still more time to find, more tweaks on the set-ups, but it was a productive Friday. There is not a new part that we put in the car that is not helping the performance. That is something that has been always the case with the team from Bahrain. I’m happy with upgrades, and let’s see tomorrow, when everyone goes to full power, where we are.”
Leclerc: “It has been an interesting day, as we had some new parts to try, so we ran very different programmes between the two cars. It was a productive day as we got through all the tests we wanted to do even if it’s difficult to read where we are in terms of performance right now. We will keep pushing to try and make the steps forward that we want in order to be more at ease with the car tomorrow and then we will be able to see where we are. For today, it’s clear that although Red Bull has the edge over everyone, the rest of the field is very, very tight.”
Ocon: “It was a productive Friday here at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the team. We used both Free Practice sessions well, testing different things and getting through our planned programme. We made the necessary changes from Free Practice 1 to Free Practice 2 but there is still some work to do to get the car in decent shape both on low and high fuel. Overall, we are satisfied with the day’s work, with plenty to go through tonight in order to be in a good position for Qualifying.”
Hulkenberg: “It felt decent, especially that lap on new softs, it gives you a lot of grip over one lap. Particularly in FP2, I think we picked up some performance which wasn’t quite there earlier. I’m satisfied with how it’s gone and hope we can keep it up for the next two days. There’s always more to explore, there’s always more to do, but I had a good rhythm today and felt at home in the car. I felt like I was in the driving seat which is important – especially around here – it’s been a positive Friday.”
The pack behind and in the Top 10 remained close with the likes of AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas making it in as well. Although they seem to be optimistic about a Q3 shot but it will be a touch difficult with the competition.
Their teammates Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu were in a good space too along with the McLaren pair, but both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri couldn’t make the Top 10 cut just yet. Williams struggled to end up last, as Pirelli felt the new tyres performed as expected.
De Vries: “It’s been a decent day for us, especially FP1. I believe we were slightly out of position, but we hit the ground running fairly well. During FP2, we didn’t quite get everything together. We tried different things and I think they will give us a better idea for tomorrow to be able to put it together when it counts. Tonight we will check how much the new upgrades are working, as it’s the first day we can have a proper read on it. There’s more emphasis on the front axle with the new changes, when previously it was on both. I’m not sure whether the new layout will produce better racing on Sunday because we noticed that it was difficult to follow, but I don’t think we can jump to any conclusions too quickly.”
Norris: “After a very different track in Monaco, it took me a few laps to get back into the swing of things here in Barcelona. We struggled a little bit with the car from the off, but we improved in FP2. We have a lot of things to look into tonight to try to unlock some more pace from the car. It’s not bad, we just need to work on driveability and take a step forward ahead of tomorrow’s sessions.”
Bottas: “I think we had a decent day. The car felt better for me in the second practice session after we made a few adjustments, and my lap time improved as well. Now, all our focus will be on analysing the data we gathered today, in order to find something more ahead of tomorrow. I like the changes they made to the track; I think it’s good fun. I prefer this layout without the final chicane, I think it adds more flow to the lap which is nice. As predicted, the field is extremely close, and any tenth could be key for a good qualifying. I think we can set a realistic target of aiming to get into Q3 tomorrow, which is what we will be working towards.”
Albon: “This track never really suited us but I don’t think our car feels that bad. There’s not a fundamental issue with it that we have to try to fix for tomorrow, but that’s also not a great feeling because the car is where it is. We can find a couple of tenths here or there if we get everything right, which we’ll go for, but not much more as this is just where we’re at. We’re sort of a normal gap from the top but there are some of the midfield teams like Haas, Alfa Romeos and McLarens doing a very good job, only a tenth off the Mercedes, which makes it look a bit worse. The changes to the last couple of corners of the track feel nice. It’s made it a bit more physical which is always a challenge which makes it fun for the drivers.”
Pirelli: “It was a very busy Friday at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit. Apart from the usual programme, with teams evaluating the three compounds available for the Grand Prix, they also tried two sets of C1 tyres, with a new construction, which will be used as from the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The increased work load made for a busy time on track throughout the two hours. As for the new construction, the initial analysis of the data gathered suggests that it matches our predictions in terms of its behaviour. Namely, that it delivers similar performance compared to the current construction. Therefore, it is interesting to note that some teams used one of the two available sets to do longer runs on this Hard compound to gather data for Sunday’s race.
“In fact, over the two hours of free practice, only one team used the white-banded tyre. The C1 introduced this year was actually based on the experience of last year’s Spanish Grand Prix when the Hard, the tyre now called C0, was hardly used in the Race as its performance was unsuitable, whereas the current C1 now looks one of the most likely race tyres, which is why some drivers have two sets available for Sunday. Finally, it is worth noting that today’s quickest lap time is already almost as quick as simulations for pole position suggested and that, here on a permanent race track and despite the unknowns relating to what each team is doing, the times are very close with seventeen drivers within less than a second of each other in FP2.”
Here’s how FP1 of F1 Spanish GP panned out
Here’s how FP2 of F1 Spanish GP panned out