There is Lando Norris with the McLaren top of the timesheets for the first free practice session of the Spanish GP. The Englishman from the Woking team in 1’14″228 on soft rubber preceded the Red Bull Of Max Verstappen and by just over three tenths there Ferrari Of Carlos Sainz junior (on medium tyre). A sign of how the challenge seems to be limited to the three protagonists of this first part of the season. McLaren immediately proved to be well balanced, Red Bull as well and confirmation indirectly came from Sergio Perez’s fifth fastest time. And to confirm how everyone does not want to take risks and considers this race to be delicate, it should be noted that Verstappen has mounted the fourth power unit.
Ferrari news
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But Ferrari doesn’t seem to have had a bad start either because Sainz set a good time on the intermediate compound. The Spaniard, who mounted the third power unit, had the most substantial package of changes, while Charles Leclerc worked more on the comparison between old and new set-ups and stopped far from the top positions: 11th fastest time for the Monegasque. For the Cavallino this Friday is mainly focused on collecting data to make the best choices for the weekend’s set-ups, but also correlating them in view of the evolution package that has been planned for the GP that will take place at Silverstone.
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bearman rides in haas
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Fourth time for George Russell’s Mercedes, also on medium tyre, fifth, as mentioned, for Sergio Perez’s second Red Bull. Sixth Oscar Piastri with McLaren, seventh Lewis Hamilton with the second Mercedes. Eighth time for Esteban Ocon with Alpine, who today formalized the hiring of Flavio Briatore as super consultant. Oliver Bearman, who had replaced Sainz in the Arabian GP, rode in Haas in place of Nico Hulkenberg: 19th fastest time for him ahead of Yuki Tsunoda’s RB. Also noteworthy was the interruption of the session for a few minutes with a red flag due to a piece of wing that broke off between turns 9 and 10 from Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin. At 5pm the second free practice session.
