#F1 #SpanishGP FP1: @LandoNorris quickest ahead of @Max33Verstappen by 0.024s.

Norris Spanish GP FP1 – McLaren’s Lando Norris topped the opening FP1 session at the Spanish GP narrowly in-front of championship leader Max Verstappen who was second and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who completed the top three.

Norris posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:14.228 on the C3 red side-walled Soft tyre and was a narrow 0.024 seconds clear of Verstappen as Sainz was a further 0.344 seconds off the Briton with his best effort posted on the C2 yellow-marked Mediums.

The Briton moved ahead of Verstappen before the red flag in the second half of the initial 60-minute session at the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya, and longer runs ensured that the Miami Grand Prix winner stayed on top of the classification.

Mercedes’ George Russell was the first driver to register a lap time with the C1 white-branded Hard compound, breaking into the 1:15 barrier.

Verstappen then lowered the bar with a 1:15.424 also on the hards in the early stints, an effort which stood at the head of the time-sheets by the end of the opening 15 minutes of proceedings and remained the best time throughout the next quarter of the session.

This saw a lull in action from the top drivers, before Russell put on the C2 medium rubber to go fastest with a 1:14.753, a time beaten by Ferrari’s Sainz on the same tyre.

Verstappen opted to go for the softer rubber and pushed for a 1:14.252 to return to P1 in the classification. This was then ousted by Norris who posted the 1:14.228 as the McLaren driver posted a purple first sector on a fresh set of softs.

The chance of further improvements halted when a red flag was waved to clear a piece of debris at turn nine; bodywork from Fernando Alonso’s AMR24 racer had escaped and sat on the Campsa racing line.

Once the chunk of carbon fibre was removed, the session resumed as the drivers started to focus on higher fuel runs on used sets of tyres. This ensured that Norris’s effort remained untouched with 20 minutes left on the clock once the green flag was waved.

Verstappen held onto second after continuing to push on his soft-tyre stint before returning to the harder compounds, although the Dutchman reported his clutch was entering into anti-stall mode during the slower corners.

Sainz was the third quickest, and the fastest of those who set a time on the medium rubber as the Spaniard complained earlier in the session that his SF-24 entry had no power but was directed to make a switch to his engine mode on the steering wheel which helped to fix the problem.

Russell was fourth in the order over Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who will be hit with a three-placed grid-penalty due to his incident in Montreal.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was sixth and ahead of Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton.

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon finished the opening hour session eighth as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon completed the top ten.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended FP1 outside the top ten in 11^th and ahead of Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas who was 12^th and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who took 13^th in the order.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll ended opening practice in 14^th and in-front of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo who placed 15^th and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu who came 16^th in the classification.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and reserve Oliver Bearman (in-place of Nico Hulkenberg for FP1) were 17^th and 19^th as Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant split the duo and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio De Espana 2024 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1238/spain/practice-1.html

Alpine announce return of Briatore as Executive Advisor

Briatore Alpine F1 Return – Today it was announced by BWT Alpine F1 Team that Flavio Briatore has been appointed by Renault Group CEO Luca De Meo as Executive Advisor for the Formula 1 team.

Briatore will be focusing on top areas of the Enstone based-outfit including scouting top talents, providing insights on the driver market, challenging the existing project by assessing the team’s current structure and advising on strategic matters in the sport.

Briatore, now 74, has been long connected to the sport, serving initially as Benetton’s Team Boss through the 1990’s and achieving championship success with Michael Schumacher.

After a break away, the Italian made a return to Formula 1 when Renault took over the Enstone HQ in March 2000, again overseeing the outfit’s operations as Team Principal.

Briatore scored more titles with Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006, before vacating his position in 2009 and took more time out of the sport.

Now with several other business activities and ventures, Briatore will embark on a fresh stint with the Enstone based-squad as he assists the Renault chiefs in pushing Alpine up the grid.

Alpine have endured a difficult start to the 2024 campaign, taking just five points in nine rounds so far and currently sit eighth in the World Constructor’s Championship standings.

#F1 @Aramco #SpanishGP 2024 Preview. #BarcelonaGP #Formula1

TermiOnTrack #F1 Newsbites – June Edition.