Car Racing News: Formula 1 Free Practice Recap at the Spanish Grand Prix
In the final Formula 1 free practice session at the Spanish Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz emerged as the fastest driver, edging out Lando Norris by a mere 0.03 seconds. The Ferrari driver posted a blistering time of 1m13.013s, beating Norris’ soft-tyre benchmark during the qualifying simulations.
The FP3 session got off to a slow start, allowing Lewis Hamilton to take advantage of an empty circuit and set the initial soft-tyre benchmark with a 1m14.178s lap. However, Hamilton’s time was almost a second off his FP2 pace. Max Verstappen soon joined the fray, setting a 1m14.237s time on medium tyres, but was quickly usurped by George Russell, who topped the leaderboard with a 1m13.431s lap.
The Ferrari drivers, Sainz and Charles Leclerc, then inserted themselves between the Mercedes duo, with Sainz only a tenth shy of Russell’s pace and Leclerc mere three-hundredths behind his teammate. Norris eventually split the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers on mediums, his lap just 0.001s clear of Sainz’s previous effort.
The session continued with a series of longer runs ahead of the final qualifying simulations, featuring a late-session flurry of rapid laps. Both McLaren drivers had an eventful session, with Norris aborting his initial flyer due to a mistake at Turn 7, while Piastri did so before Turn 3. Norris quickly regrouped, posting a 1m13.043s lap that briefly put him on top.
The Mercedes drivers also found improvements, with Hamilton clinching a purple middle sector, but oversteer issues in the final sector cost him three tenths. Russell, meanwhile, finished just 0.121s shy of Norris’ pace. However, Sainz ultimately came out on top, overturning Norris’ time with a 1m13.013s lap. Leclerc looked set to challenge but a slight wide moment at Turn 11 relegated him to third, 0.037s behind Sainz.
The session concluded with a touch of drama, as Norris and Leclerc made contact at Turn 6 when the Monegasque cut across a slow Norris, resulting in a contretemps between the two. Meanwhile, Hamilton had a brush with Lance Stroll at Turn 5, with the Mercedes driver appearing to impede the Aston Martin driver, who then swiped at Hamilton.
Sergio Perez, who carries a grid penalty into qualifying, finished seventh, just 0.03s ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon. Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri completed the top 10 ahead of Formula 1 qualifying later today. Stay tuned for the latest Formula 1 news, Formula 1 qualifying updates, and Formula 1 standings.
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