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Formula 1 Spanish GP

F1 Spanish GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2

Track overview

Live Standings

Stopped

Summary

    • Hamilton tops the times in FP2 by 0.139s from Bottas ahead of the Spanish GP
    • Verstappen runs wide at Turn 10 on soft tyre run, down in P9
    • Leclerc puts Ferrari in third ahead of Alpine pair Ocon and Alonso
    • Brief Virtual Safety Car after Sainz suffers front wing damage
    • Bottas fastest in FP1 from Verstappen and Hamilton
  • Leaderboard
    1. Hamilton, Mercedes
    2. Bottas, Mercedes
    3. Leclerc, Ferrari
    4. Ocon, Alpine
    5. Alonso, Alpine
    6. Gasly, AlphaTauri
    7. Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
    8. Sainz, Ferrari
    9. Verstappen, Red Bull
    10. Perez, Red Bull

Live Text

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Buenos dias! Welcome to Autosport's live coverage of Friday practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, round four of the 2021 Formula 1 season.
After two races at stand-in venues - Imola and the Algarve circuit - F1 is now back on more familiar territory with a return to Barcelona. And, unlike last year's Spanish GP, it's taking place in its traditional May slot.
 
While Barcelona may be a track F1 teams and drivers know like the back of their hands, it's not quite as familiar as usual. Normally they would be heading to the circuit with reams and reams of data banked from pre-season testing. But not this year. With testing taking place in Bahrain, it means Friday practice will be a little bit more useful for the teams in Spain than usual.
There is also a slight tweak to the Barcelona layout for the field to get their heads around this year, with drivers split over the significance of the changes to the Turn 10/11 complex: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/drivers-react-to-2021-barcelona-track-changes/6503628/
Two drivers who will have to wait a little longer to experience the reprofiled layout are Kimi Raikkonen and George Russell. Robert Kubica and Roy Nissany will be making appearances for Alfa Romeo and Williams, respectively, for this session.
Mercedes heads to Barcelona buoyed by its double podium at Portimao just five days ago. But can Red Bull strike back at a circuit that is often happy hunting ground for Mercedes? Only once has the manufacturer failed to win at Barcelona since the start of the turbo-hybrid era. And that one occasion was the infamous race when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collided on the first lap and gifted Max Verstappen victory on his Red Bull debut. Incredibly, that's now five years ago...
Before we get too depressed at that thought, it's now two minutes until FP1 begins.
Lights green
And FP1 is now under way!
Unlike most Barcelona sessions, we've already got over half the grid instantly taking to the track. Perez in the Red Bull leads the field round.
Both Mercedes drivers are among the dozen all heading out on the hardest tyres.
As Perez and some of the others head straight back to the pits, it's only Latifi and Verstappen that have yet to head out.
Stopwatch
It's Robert Kubica in the Alfa that is the first to set a time a 1m27.006s - some way off the pace.
Crash
Oh and here's one for your bingo sheets, Mazepin has spun!
While Mazepin is busy sending gravel onto the track as he recovers from his spin at Turn 8, it's Bottas that is the fastest among the initial laps.
Latifi and Verstappen are now out on track meaning everyone has completed at least one lap.
Stopwatch
Meanwhile, Hamilton is now up to first place on a 1m21.014s, ahead of Bottas and Gasly.
Norris now jumps up to P3 on a 1m21.693s, although the times are meaningless at this stage.
 
Stopwatch
Verstappen now goes faster, he's just 0.074s quicker than Hamilton on a 1m20.405s.
Quote
Scathing comment from Leclerc on the radio! "Mazepin will never change," he says.
Only three drivers are yet to set a time now: Perez, Ricciardo and Tsunoda and all three are currently in the pits.
Leclerc, while dismissive of Mazepin's abilities, has demonstrated his own pace by splitting the two Merc drivers.
Stopwatch
And Alonso is now fastest! Feels good to type that again. Admittedly his 1m19.950s is on the soft tyre, while everyone else is on the hards. But we'll ignore that for now.
Stopwatch
It was just a brief moment of glory for Alonso, as Hamilton reclaims top spot now, going 0.2s faster. Normal service is resumed.
Interesting strategy here from Alonso and Alpine, opting to use a valuable set of softs when the track is at its slowest.
Ricciardo has now logged his first lap time but it's some seven seconds off the pace. Team-mate Norris is currently seventh.
Pacesetter Hamilton just runs wide through the opening sequence of corners and he heads for the pits.
Most of the frontrunners have now returned to their garages, but Perez still hasn't left the pits after that initial install lap.
But, having just said that, Perez now heads out! Typical!
Twenty minutes into the session and it's Hamilton leading with an impressive time that's four tenths faster than Verstappen and a second clear of Bottas in fourth. Alonso is the odd one out in second place on the soft tyres.
Quote
Perez is told that Verstappen may have suffered some front wing damage on the exit kerbs of Turn 8 and is warned to be careful through that part of the track.
Norris has now jumped up to fifth, around three tenths clear of the two Ferraris.
Of the FP1 gatecrashers, Kubica is currently 16th (although Perez hasn't set a representative time yet) but is faster than fellow guest Nissany and the two Haas drivers. Spinner Mazepin is some six seconds off the pace.
Perez now pops up to seventh place, fractionally slower than Gasly in sixth.
 
Unlike his Alpine team-mate Alonso, Ocon has remained on the hard tyres and is 14th, 1.7s slower than Alonso's soft-tyre run.
Vettel in the Aston Martin (there's someone we haven't mentioned, he's 11th by the way) and the Haas drivers have now joined Alonso in switching to the softs.
After his front-wing change, Verstappen now returns to the track as we reach the midpoint of this session. Can he close that three tenth gap to Hamilton?
Speaking of Hamilton, he's the latest to opt for the soft tyres for his next run.

By: Stephen Lickorish, Jake Boxall-Legge

Published: