SPANISH GP – Lando Norris fastest by three and a half tenths in first practice
Lando Norris was fastest in first practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, the McLaren driver set a 13.718 putting himself just over three and a half tenths faster than Max Verstappen. Norris set his fastest time in the final ten minutes before switching to his longer run, McLaren was always likely to be the team to beat this weekend as Barcelona rewards straight-line speed and cornering.
The Englishman looking to inject some momentum into his championship fight following his second win of the season last weekend in Monaco, Norris was immediately back at the head of the timesheet at a scorching Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya via an impressive fastest time on soft tyres. Apart from Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, the rest of the field was half a second off.
The championship leaders’ car has long been highlighted by some rivals as one which has best exploited the flexi-wing phenomenon, although McLaren themselves have repeatedly insisted the changes will not particularly negatively impact them.
Hamilton was third going just over a hundredths behind Verstappen as he went a tenth and a half ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc. Oscar Piastri put his McLaren fifth fastest half a second off teammate as he went nearly half a second ahead of the Racing Bull of Liam Lawson.
The first half of the session for all the teams was effectively a test session with the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya because of a tightening of the regulations around flexiwings. But McLaren looked unaffected by the change. Lawson was two-tenths faster than Ollie Bearman the Haas driver splitting the Racing Bulls after going eight hundredths faster than Isack Hadjar.
Yuki Tsunoda put his Red Bull ninth almost four hundredths behind the Frenchman as he went five thousandths faster than former teammate Pierre Gasly. George Russell missed out on the top ten by just five thousandths of a second and was ahead of both Aston Martins with Lance Stroll a hundred ahead of Fernando Alonso.
Mercedes were the other team not running a new front wing but they have introduced changes to the W16’s floor and rear wing as they chase improved performance following two disappointing races. Russell set his quickest time on the slower medium tyres.
The Spaniard was an early pace setter, but dropped back as the session developed and appeared to have a problem with the performance of his engine, judging by radio transmissions between the Spaniard and his engineer. Nico Hulkenberg was seven hundredths behind Alonso as Carlos Sainz spilt the Saubers with Gabriel Bortoleto just under a tenth behind.
Ryo Hirakawa replaced Esteban Ocon in FP1 going seventeenth ahead of Kimi Antonelli by seven hundredths. The Japanese driver had the only incident of note in the session when he ran through the gravel in the opening minutes at La Casa. Victor Martins was nineteenth going eight thousandths ahead of Franco Colapinto.