VT1 of the GP Spain! Max always does well here, also this year? Or is Nyck the flying Dutchman this time? Read it here!
Do you remember? In 2016 Max Verstappen was cold in the Red Bull and he immediately won the Grand Prix of Spain. Last year he also won here, Perez had the fastest lap. How are the Red Bulls doing this time?
VT1 GP Spain
The free practice starts quietly. It’s dry and clouds are coming, but there won’t be any wetness during this VT1.
Much more space here than in Monaco last week, so less pressure on the track. Max and Checo actually drive the fastest laps right away and are in 1st and 2nd place from the start of the first free practice. The gap with the rest is immediately considerable.
The track is hard on the tyres, and we see the cars bouncing around the track as usual. Especially in turn 10, several drivers complain about “bouncing”.
Last week Mercedes had new sidepods in Monaco. The effect of this on the street circuit of the principality is difficult to measure. This week it’s time for new sidepods at Ferrari. See if it does something for them for the lap times.
Nick de Vries
Where it has been much about Nyck de Vries in a less positive sense, the GP of Spain is perhaps a good place for the Alpha Tauri driver to turn the tide. He knows the job well and he may well benefit from it.
He starts on a Pirelli test tire from which he gains little advantage. As soon as he is allowed to switch, he will try again on the mediums. That is not without merit and halfway through FP1 he has a sixth time to his name. But most still have to go on the softs.
The moment he screws them under himself, he immediately drives a third fastest time. With ten minutes left before free practice, it is exciting whether he can hold on to that.
Tires, tires, tires
The fastest times are therefore driven when the softs are screwed under. As soon as the first rounds are driven by the Red Bulls with the softs underneath, the times are immediately tightened again. Max Verstappen remains number 1 and Sergio Perez number 2.
At Mercedes they seem to have other things on their minds. Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are in 18th and 19th place on the test tires after 40 minutes of VT 1. They only go out on the mediums in the last 20 minutes. It seems that at Mercedes they run a different program than the rest. That test tire is actually available from Silverstone and Mercedes may be trying to collect more data about it.
In any case, it seems that Mercedes used VT1 mainly as a test. Russel barely makes it into the top ten and Hamilton scores even lower. Curious how the updates will turn out for the rest of the weekend.
VT1 GP Spain 2023 is over. With Max Verstappen on top from round 1 and Sergio Perez on number 2. And Nyck de Vries? He takes fourth place in the VT 1. And he could use that for a while.
The full results FP1 GP Spain
- MAX VERSTAPEN (1:14.606)
- Sergio Pérez (1:15.374)
- Esteban Ocon (1:15.418)
- NYCK DE VRIES (1:15.504)
- Pierre Gasly (1:15.545)
- Fernando Alonso (1:15.547)
- Kevin Magnussen (1:15.689)
- Charles Leclerc (1:15.694)
- Carlos Sainz (1:15.726)
- George Russell (1:15.753)
- Lando Norris (1:15.783)
- Lewis Hamilton (1:15.845)
- Guanyu Zhou (1:15.906)
- Yuki Tsunoda (1:15.915)
- Lance Stroll (1:15.939)
- Valtteri Bottas (1:15.978)
- Oscar Piastri (1:16.353)
- Nico Hulkenberg (1:16.461)
- Logan Sargeant (1:16.506)
- Alexander Albon (1:16.630)
This article FP1 GP Spain: Nyck de Vries almost the fastest in Spain! appeared first on Autoblog.nl.
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