Lewis Hamilton toils in 12th as Max Verstappen and Red Bull dominate in Spain
Lewis Hamilton finished only 12th in opening practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.
As Max Verstappen predictably set the pace for Red Bull at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, Hamilton ended the one-hour running 1.2 seconds behind the Dutchman.
Sergio Perez finished second, seven tenths adrift of his Red Bull team-mate, with Esteban Ocon, fresh from his podium at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, third for Alpine. Home favourite Fernando Alonso was sixth.
🏁 FP1 CLASSIFICATION 🏁
Red Bull tops the opening session of the weekend, with Esteban Ocon just behind #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/grnxabHZKT
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 2, 2023
Mercedes spent the first running of the weekend rooted to the bottom of the time sheets before late laps from George Russell, who finished two places and one tenth ahead of his team-mate, and Hamilton hauled them up the order.
Hamilton admitted here on Thursday that Mercedes’ much-anticipated upgrade, which made its debut in Monaco a week ago, had not provided the magic fix he was hoping for.
And on his new machine’s second outing, at a track where the Silver Arrows said they would obtain a greater understanding of their upgrades, the evidence suggests they are no closer to competing with the grid’s all-conquering team, or indeed, leapfrogging rivals Aston Martin and Ferrari.
End of FP1 in Spain. Plenty for our Team to work through ahead of the next practice session. pic.twitter.com/tZ776XmG0V
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) June 2, 2023
Verstappen has been in a class of one for much of the past 18 months and his dominance continued on Friday.
He was the only man to break the 75-second barrier, a day after he made the ominous prediction that Red Bull could win all 16 remaining races.
Nyck de Vries has endured a trying start to his Formula One career but the AlphaTauri driver finished fourth in first practice, a spot clear of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, with Alonso, the 41-year-old Spaniard, the only other driver to finish within a second of Verstappen.
That's the end of the session, friends! Feels great to be back on the track, right?!
FP1 round-up: Max was the quickest with Checo right behind him. Fastest lap times 👇
P1: Max ⏱️ 1:14:606 P2: Checo ⏱️ 1:15.374#SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/fY7NN3rAfH
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) June 2, 2023
British driver Lando Norris was 11th for McLaren, six places ahead of Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren.
Second practice, which could be disrupted by rain, is due to start at 5pm local time (4pm BST).