F1 Spanish GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2
Updates from F1 Friday practice at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
After a week break, F1 returns to action back in Europe for the Spanish GP.
Charles Leclerc leads the F1 drivers’ standings by 19 points from Max Verstappen following the Dutch driver’s Miami GP victory last time out, as Ferrari heads the teams’ standings by just six points from Red Bull.
An extensive range of upgrades have been delivered by almost every F1 team, which could shake-up the pecking order as teams push on with the development of the new cars.
Opening practice for the Spanish GP gets underway at 1.00pm BST (2.00pm local time), followed by second practice which starts at 4.00pm BST (5.00pm local time).
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Green flag
Here we go!
All the F1 drivers are getting comfy in their cockpits, so it is almost time for the track to get busy.
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Sun
Barcelona track conditions are toasty, with air temperature touching 31oC and track temp above 45oC at present. That's Miami levels of heat.
Switching focus back to FP2, a trio of driver changes to flag: Zhou, Albon and Perez are back in their respective cars after Kubica, de Vries and Vips took part in FP1. The rest are as you were.
Here's a selection of other key talking points during the break:
Breaking news
Red Bull has reacted to the FIA clearing Aston Martin over similarities in its F1 car design and says any IP transfer would be "a serious concern". Here's the full story: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/red-bull-transfer-of-ip-in-aston-martin-f1-design-would-be-a-serious-concern/10307446/
FP2 gets underway in 15 minutes, so in that time we’ll quickly recap what’s happened between the practice sessions.
Hello once again! Who is ready for some more F1 practice action?
We'll take a bit of a break, but we'll be back a little bit later for FP2. See you shortly!
Breaking news
Here's the report from FP1: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-spanish-gp-leclerc-leads-ferrari-1-2-in-fp1/10307349/
De Vries was about a tenth quicker than Latifi in that session, as Vips was P20 having not gone for an out-and-out hot-lap.
Doesn't look like it - that's Leclerc on top from Sainz by 0.079s, from Verstappen. Russell is fourth from Alonso, with Hamilton sixth.
Checkered flag
And here's the chequered flag! Is anyone going to improve at the last chance?
Vips just set two purple microsectors on his latest lap, but he's backed out of it. Still, nice little footnote in the session.
Five minutes to go, and it's last orders for FP1. Russell's been impeded a bit by Vips, so lots of drivers getting in the way of each other in this session.
Breaking news
There's also a Verstappen and Bottas impeding incident under investigation, so another thing to keep an eye on.
Breaking news
Incident between Hamilton and Alonso under investigation for impeding - presumably relating the incident earlier.
With just under 15 minutes left, it's Leclerc from Sainz, Verstappen, Russell, Alonso, Hamilton, Norris, Gasly, Ricciardo and Tsunoda. Gasly improves, but remains in P8 for now.
Vips is continuing to circulate - he's last but he's not been chasing any laptime, instead doing some tyre work for Red Bull.
Stopwatch
Hamilton meanwhile has to take to the kerb/gravel to clear a slow Alonso, which looked like a bumpy ride. Leclerc now goes top with a 1m19.828s.
Verstappen sets purple sectors in 1 and 2, but gets an M25's worth of traffic in the last sector so can't overhaul Sainz. About three tenths lost there.
It seems Alonso's accidentally gone out on the medium tyres, so he comes in to pit for presumably softs.
Russell goes P2 on a 1m20.590s, 0.6s down on Sainz, as Hamilton posts a 1m20.811s.
Norris and Tsunoda now do soft times, in the 1m21s, but it looks like they're not pushing as hard as Sainz was - with a slathering of aero paint on Norris' McLaren.
Stopwatch
There's a 1m19.907s for Sainz on the softs, so that's P1 for the Ferrari driver.
De Vries moves up to fourth on the soft tyre, a 1m22.936s. "Track position wasn't great, was in traffic the whole last sector," he says. Sainz has kicked off his soft running on a hot lap, going quickest in sector 1.
There's more activity now on the track, albeit with none of the current top five of Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, Ricciardo and Gasly on the road. Sainz has just headed out to get more mileage for Ferrari.
It's got a little quieter as we approach the half-way mark, with both Alfas, both Haases and Vettel on the road.
Stopwatch
Verstappen did a 1m21.876s earlier on, by the way, continuing to wind the times down.
“Autosport generally operates with an unofficial rule of three before reporting unusual trackside occurrences (shunts or incidences or cars breaking down naturally not included). By this measure, it's Leclerc attracting attention in the Ferrari. On these hard tyres in the scorching sun, he’s repeatedly and properly having to fight for second and third-gear traction out of Turn 10 as the rear constantly wants to wiggle under power."
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"Something broke, between my back and the seat," Tsunoda reports on the radio, while Ocon complains that "I can't turn the car". A few gremlins returning from lunch, it seems...
Vips had faced a bit of a lay-off in the garage in the first part of the session, but the Juri's out on track again. The venerable Stuart Codling told me to write this.
A reminder that the fastest time in testing earlier this year was a 1m19.138s from Lewis Hamilton, but that was on the softest compound available.
Stopwatch
It's a 1m22.143s for Verstappen now, who's looking very comfortable at this stage of the day at the top.
Ricciardo's now back in P3, on a 1m23.011, as Leclerc posts a 1m22.746s to get closer to Verstappen.
Gasly, on mediums, gets up to P3 as Alonso moves into fourth, but they're usurped by Sainz who improves to get within 0.7s of Verstappen's time. The Dutchman, meanwhile, is currently complaining about his mirrors.
Stopwatch
Not much running down at Haas at the moment, as both cars are in the pits and taking a few set-up tweaks. Meanwhile, Verstappen raises the bar with a 1m22.394s.
Sainz got into third, briefly, but Ricciardo's now ahead of him. The Australian's kicked off on the medium tyres, with Sainz on hards.
Stopwatch
Leclerc powers to a 1m22.820s, going top, before Verstappen one-ups him with a 1m22.693s.
By: autosport.com
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