Max Verstappen picked up where he left off in Monte Carlo last weekend and topped the timesheets from the first practice session in Spain. The Championship leader was well ahead of his Red Bull teammates Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon in the build-up to this weekend’s action.
Under the scorching Spanish sun, with track temperatures reaching as high as 43C, temperatures proved ideal for drivers to test out the new Pirelli tire construction ahead of their run in next month’s race at Silverstone.
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Many of the drivers opted to start the day with a run on the prototype tires before switching to the medium tyres, with Verstappen setting the early pace ahead of his former and current Red Bull teammates Pierre Gasly and Perez.
The Red Bull pair then switched to the soft tires early and Perez took over the top of the leaderboard, only moments later Verstappen clocked a time of 1’14.606s, beating his teammate’s time by a whopping 0.768s.
Esteban Ocon, who had just finished on the podium last time out in Monaco, was third fastest, ahead of the surprise package of AlphaTauris Nyck de Vries in fourth and his Alpine teammate Gasly in fifth.
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Home favorite Fernando Alonso was sixth fastest for Aston Martin, ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in eighth and ninth respectively – with Sainz being the only Ferrari to drive his improved package in FP1.
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton – a six-time winner at Barcelona – finished 10th and 12th respectively for Mercedes, with Lando Norris’ McLaren in between.
Zhou Guanyu in the Alfa Romeo was 13th fastest, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda’s other AlphaTauri and Lance Stroll’s other Aston Martin in 15th place.
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was 16th, ahead of McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri in 17th, Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas and Williams pair Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon at the back of the field.
Join us again at 17:00 local time for the second practice session ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.