The seven-time Formula 1 champion seemed to be in a favorable position during the afternoon session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, finishing as the fastest driver in FP2.
The training session highlighted excessive tire degradation, which is likely to play a significant role in Sunday’s race. This weekend is anticipated as an opportunity to discover the true order of the grid, considering the recent difficulties of Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes.
However, Verstappen did not seem to be taking advantage of his RB20 on Friday afternoon, as he struggled with balance issues and had difficulties navigating the corners. Consequently, he finished the session in fifth place.
Carlos Sainz continued to outperform his Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc, who continued to struggle with his car. Sainz secured the second-best time, behind Hamilton.
McLaren also had a decline in performance, with Lando Norris only managing third place. Surprisingly, Pierre Gasly impressed during the session, securing the fourth-best time in his Alpine.
Sergio Perez had difficulties with his car, failing to make it into the top ten. Similarly, Fernando Alonso had a quiet session in the Aston Martin, finishing outside the top ten in 14th place.
Report in progress…
The first training session for the 2024 Spanish GP did not provide a comprehensive view of the grid order for this weekend. Only Red Bull and McLaren demonstrated their competitiveness, as expected.
Ferrari, with their highly upgraded SF-24, chose not to reveal their true performance, opting for Medium and Hard tires and avoiding qualifying laps. Mercedes followed the same strategy.
In addition, FP2 will be the most crucial session as teams will perform qualifying simulations, determining the grid order. Additionally, the temperature and track conditions during Friday afternoon’s session will be similar to those in Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session.
With several teams introducing updates, it is expected that FP2 will provide more clarity on the performance of the cars and identify the leaders, considering that several teams had minor issues with their cars.
Nico Hulkenberg will return to the car for FP2 after handing it over to Oliver Bearman in the morning session. He will have some ground to make up.
Sunny and dry conditions persisted in FP2, although it was slightly cooler, with track temperatures reaching 43 degrees Celsius, while ambient temperatures were 25 degrees.
Similar to FP1, the drivers wasted no time in getting on the track and starting their laps at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Most drivers chose to use the Medium tires at the beginning of the session, except for Williams, McLaren’s Piastri, and Sauber’s Zhou, who opted for the Hard tires.
Sargeant was the first to encounter an incident, going off track at Turn 2 but managing to stay on the track and continue.
Ten minutes into the session, Verstappen’s engineer asked for feedback on the car’s balance. The response was negative, stating: “The car is loose on the exits in general. I’m still experiencing understeer in the middle of the corner, this car doesn’t respond.”
At that moment, the Dutchman was in fourth place, over three tenths behind the leader, 13 minutes into the session.
After 20 minutes of running, the track fell silent as the cars returned to the garages for configuration changes in preparation for the second runs with the Soft tires.
Sargeant was the first driver to go out on the Softs, while Piastri, who followed him, was called back to the garage due to a data issue reported by his engineer.
The current order was: Russell – Norris – Hamilton – Verstappen – Sainz – Leclerc – Ocon – Piastri – Gasly – Bottas.
Zhou complained about Tsunoda “completely blocking” him, using some colorful words.
With 25 minutes elapsed, times on the Soft tires started to appear, with Sainz initially going faster, ahead of Norris and Leclerc in third.
Verstappen soon passed Leclerc to secure third place, despite setting a purple first sector. However, he lost over three tenths in the second sector, but regained some time in the third.
Hamilton then set the fastest time of all, while Russell’s first attempt on the Softs put him only in seventh. He later dropped to eighth place, as Gasly joined the top four fastest drivers. The top ten drivers after the first qualifying runs were separated by less than seven tenths.
The current order is: Hamilton – Sainz – Norris – Gasly – Verstappen – Leclerc – Piastri – Russell – Ocon – Bottas.
Perez was unable to complete a lap on the Soft tires like the rest of the drivers due to a car issue. He later attempted a qualifying lap, but could only secure 12th place on his first attempt.
After the qualifying runs, the drivers started to perform long runs with heavy fuel loads. They used the same Soft tires used earlier for these runs.
With less than 20 minutes remaining, the cars were equipped with Medium tires once again for race simulations.
Leclerc was the only driver who stayed off the track during this time, as Ferrari was making a suspension change to his SF-24. He returned to the session with less than ten minutes remaining.
Hamilton had a moment with seven minutes remaining, where he went off track at Turn 13 and ended up in the gravel. However, he managed to continue without major issues.
Norris also had a moment on the kerbs, stating: “I hit the ground hard.” This happened at Turn 9.
No further qualifying laps were conducted after the long runs, and the order of the drivers remained unchanged. They concluded the session with some practice starts, as is customary.
© 2024
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