Lando Norris is not hiding: the McLaren driver was the fastest in the first free practice session of the Spanish GP. On the MCL38 Lando achieved a time of 1’14″228 on the soft tyres, which was four tenths quicker than last year’s FP1, even though there were 48 degrees of asphalt and 29 degrees of air. Whoever predicted the papaya car as favorite in Barcelona was not wrong because the Woking car was also very consistent in the long run. Norris lapped on the hard tires, while Oscar Piastri dedicated himself to the medium ones. The Australian is only sixth in the flying lap list, far behind from his teammate by more than six tenths which is not real at all given that the two had two different work programs.
Behind Norris is Max Verstappen with a significantly revised RB20. The three-time world champion finished just 24 thousandths behind McLaren. Red Bull, with the changes designed to deal with the heat, seemed in good shape in the flying lap as Sergio Perez was also fifth, four tenths behind his captain. The car from Milton Keynes carried out the mini race simulation with the soft tires and with a lot of fuel on board, not giving the sensation of being in order. Also striking is the fact that Red Bull has spared the fourth power unit for the Dutchman, running out of engine availability without penalty.
Carlos said a good impression even in the long run, while Charles Leclerc with a red updated in the middle (rear wing and belly) did not impress. The winner of Monaco is only 11th at 1″2: an eternity. It must be said that Leclerc with the new average had to abort the good lap due to the red flag that was waved to remove some debris from the asphalt lost by Fernando Alonso’s Aston Mrtin.
Charles complained about the setup (“the car is awful”) and changed the red a lot by working on the wing and torsion bar. The start of the weekend was very uphill, we’ll see if he can recover in the second round.
Mercedes is fourth with George Russell: the Englishman with the averages arrived within 44 thousandths of Sainz, confirming that the Star seems to have grown. Lewis Hamilton seems much less at ease, appearing more listless than usual, and unable to go beyond seventh place, almost seven tenths from the top,
Esteban Ocon is positive with the Alpine: the Frenchman is eighth ahead of Fernando Alonso with the best Aston Martin, given that Lance Stroll is only 14th with the other “green”. The top 10 is closed by Alexander Albon at ease with the Williams, while Logan Sargeant, finally on equal material with the Anglo Thai, is only 18th.
Valtteri Bottas with the new Sauber rear wing entered 12th place: the Finn can be satisfied given that he is close to Leclerc with a gap of just 38 thousandths. Guanyu Zhou doesn’t seem to be having a great time with the other C46, given that he is only 16th.
Pierre Gasly with the second A524 is 13th with Daniel Ricciardo next to him with the revised and corrected Racing Bulls: the Australian is working on the setup and seems to have understood the new features better than Yuki Tsunoda who closes the timesheet.
The Japanese is preceded by Ollie Bearman who took the Haas left by Nico Hulkenberg. The Englishman continues his apprenticeship with F1: he did very well, coming within a couple of tenths of Kevin Magnussen with the other VF-24, despite having a different setup.
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