Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two in first practice for the Spanish Grand Prix after going almost eight-hundredths of a second faster than Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz. Thew Monacan set a 19.828 on the soft tyres midway through the session to go faster than his teammate thanks to a fastest middle sector.
Ferrari had looked strong throughout testing at the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya in February, that advantage continued with Max Verstappen three tenths off the pace, and a tenth behind Leclerc. The Red Bull driver improved throughout the session with his best time being a 20.164, three tenths off although the Dutchman lost time in the final sector.
Several teams have taken significant car upgrades to Barcelona. The biggest changes are to the Aston Martin, McLaren and Alfa Romeo cars and the one on the Aston has caused a stir as it appears to be a direct copy of the Red Bull.
Ferrari has brought its first major upgrade of the season, the centrepiece is which is a new floor, while Red Bull has continued their programme of taking mass out of their car to try to get it down to the minimum weight limit.
Mercedes George Russell was fourth fastest going seven and a half tenths off the outright pace, although the upgrade package proved to settle the car compared to the violent porpoising the team experienced in testing. Russell felt he almost clipped the back of Jüri Vips’s Red Bull after he appeared to block the Mercedes on the way down to La Casa.
He was over four seconds off the pace in place of Sergio Perez when the chequered flag dropped, while Formula E champion Nyck de Vries, the other young driver taking part in the session, finished 18th while filling in for Alex Albon at Williams.
A late lap by Fernando Alonso saw him spilt the two Mercedes, the Alpine driver going four hundredths of a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
The two former teammates have been placed under investigation, after Hamilton clipping the Barcelona gravel as he passed Alonso touring slowly on the medium tyres just past the halfway point – the Alpine driver under investigation for appearing to impede the Mercedes as Hamilton completed his quickest lap of the session.
Lando Norris put his McLaren seventh almost a second and a half off the pace, although the Englishman was almost a tenth faster than Pierre Gasly. Gasly spilt the two McLarens, going four-tenths ahead of Daniel Ricciardo with his Alpha Tauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top ten, almost eight hundredths behind.
Esteban Ocon put his Alpine eleventh, the Frenchman going three hundredths faster than Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. Robert Kubica was a test driver in action, he put his Alfa Romeo thirteenth going just over a tenth faster than the Haas’s. Kevin Magnussen going half a hundredth faster than Mick Schumacher.
Valtteri Bottas was seventeenth, although the Finn avoided an investigation despite running close behind Max Verstappen through the chicane in the final sector. That left him seven tenths behind Kubica.
Nyck De Vries was almost a tenths quicker than Nicolas Latifi in the William, before handing the car back to Alex Albon for FP2. Vips, driving in place of Sergio Perez rounded out the field, although the Estonian spent much of the session focusing on data gathering.
