Practice report

F1 Spanish GP: Norris tops FP1 to continue McLaren's advantage ahead of Verstappen

Lando Norris and McLaren start Barcelona's Spanish GP weekend in front

McLaren's Lando Norris has topped first practice at Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix, having headed Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona.

Friday's hot opening session was used as a testing ground for various upgrades across most of the teams, as well as the first session in which cars ran stiffer front wings to comply with the FIA's latest technical directive.

As such, the first half hour of the session was largely run on Pirelli's hardest C1 compound, as teams completed correlation work to trial their new parts and match them with existing simulation data.

Teams also tested steel skid blocks in a bid to find solutions to the grass fires which plagued April's Japanese Grand Prix, and were believed to be caused by hot sparks coming off the existing titanium skids.

In order to gather data, one car per team trialled the steel skids on Friday, which are believed to be 750 grams heavier and wear quicker.

Home hero Fernando Alonso led the early running on hard rubber, before Norris took over. But times started becoming more representative after the 30-minute halfway mark, as evidenced by Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg temporarily taking second.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

On soft tyres, Charles Leclerc went top before being overhauled by reigning champion Verstappen and then Norris, whose 1m13.718s was over three tenths clear of the Red Bull driver.

Hamilton was third ahead of Ferrari team-mate Leclerc, as the Scuderia trialled substantial updates with the second McLaren of championship leader Oscar Piastri in fifth.

Liam Lawson continued Racing Bull's competitive trajectory with sixth ahead of Haas rookie Oliver Bearman and Lawson’s team-mate Isack Hadjar. Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly completed the top 10.

FP1 ran without major incidents, though Haas stand-in Ryo Hirakawa took an innocent gravel trip excursion. It was the latest free practice outing for Toyota's WEC driver, this time instead of Esteban Ocon, and he finished 17th.

The other reserve driver on FP1 duties was F2 frontrunner Victor Martins, who took over Alex Albon's Williams for the session and finished 19th.

F1 Spanish Grand Prix - FP1 results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	29	1'13.718		S	227.423
2	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	18	+0.367 1'14.085	0.367	S	226.296
3	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	29	+0.378 1'14.096	0.011	S	226.263
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	31	+0.520 1'14.238	0.142	S	225.830
5	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	28	+0.576 1'14.294	0.056	S	225.660
6	L. Lawson RB	30	RB	Honda	28	+0.621 1'14.339	0.045	S	225.523
7	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	26	+0.879 1'14.597	0.258	S	224.743
8	I. Hadjar RB	6	RB	Honda	26	+0.887 1'14.605	0.008	S	224.719
9	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22	Red Bull	Red Bull	27	+0.925 1'14.643	0.038	S	224.605
10	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	28	+1.028 1'14.746	0.103	S	224.295
11	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	32	+1.033 1'14.751	0.005	M	224.280
12	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	24	+1.068 1'14.786	0.035	S	224.175
13	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	20	+1.080 1'14.798	0.012	S	224.139
14	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	Sauber	Ferrari	21	+1.147 1'14.865	0.067	S	223.939
15	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	26	+1.217 1'14.935	0.070	M	223.729
16	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	Sauber	Ferrari	23	+1.437 1'15.155	0.220	S	223.074
17	R. Hirakawa Alpine	50	Alpine	Renault	23	+1.580 1'15.298	0.143	S	222.651
18	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	31	+1.651 1'15.369	0.071	M	222.441
19	V. Martins Williams	45	Williams	Mercedes	26	+1.804 1'15.522	0.153	M	221.990
20	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Renault	19	+1.812 1'15.530	0.008	S	221.967
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