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Charles Leclerc led his Ferrari team-mate and home hero Carlos Sainz in the opening Formula 1 practice session at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Key moments:
> Leclerc 0.079s faster than Sainz
> Verstappen third
> Upgrades aplenty
> De Vries and Vips make FP1 debuts
Championship leader Leclerc’s first proper flying lap of the 60-minute session lifted him to the top of the timesheets on a 1m19.828 as Ferrari debuted its new upgrade package.
This was 0.079s quicker than team-mate Sainz, who is still searching for his maiden F1 victory.
Max Verstappen was third-quickest in the modified RB18, just over three tenths adrift of Leclerc.
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, who slammed the ‘incompetence’ of the stewards on the eve of the weekend, split the Mercedes drivers to go fifth-fastest.
George Russell was the quicker of the two Mercedes drivers, who were busy trialling the team’s upgrade package, which included a modified floor.
Lando Norris was seventh in the overhauled McLaren ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, his McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and the second AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda.
Esteban Ocon was 11th for Alpine ahead of the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.
Aston Martin is at the centre of the biggest off-track controversy of the weekend as its redesigned AMR22 has been likened to Red Bull’s RB18.
Alfa Romeo’s test and development driver Robert Kubica was 13th after his first practice session of the year.
He was followed by the Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher, who won’t receive a major upgrade package until July’s French GP.
Aston’s four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was 16th fastest ahead of Alfa’s Valtteri Bottas.
Formula E champion Nyck de Vries made his F1 practice debut for Williams and was a tenth faster than regular Williams driver Nicholas Latifi.
Juri Vips also made his FP1 debut for Red Bull and was 20th and slowest, over four seconds off the pace.
Practice 1 Results
| Pos | Name | Car | Best Time | Gap Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m19.828s | |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1m19.907s | +0.079s |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m20.164s | +0.336s |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m20.59s | +0.762s |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1m20.768s | +0.94s |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m20.811s | +0.983s |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m21.279s | +1.451s |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1m21.422s | +1.594s |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m21.737s | +1.909s |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1m21.814s | +1.986s |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1m21.891s | +2.063s |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m21.92s | +2.092s |
| 13 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m21.975s | +2.147s |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1m22.089s | +2.261s |
| 15 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1m22.146s | +2.318s |
| 16 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m22.164s | +2.336s |
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m22.614s | +2.786s |
| 18 | Nyck de Vries | Williams-Mercedes | 1m22.92s | +3.092s |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1m23.011s | +3.183s |
| 20 | Jüri Vips | Red Bull | 1m24.138s | +4.31s |
