#SpanishGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc leads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two. #F1

Leclerc Spanish GP FP1 – Championship leader Charles Leclerc topped the time-sheets ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari one-two in FP1 at the Spanish GP with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completing the top three.

The opening session took place in sweltering conditions at the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya and clear skies – just under 30 degrees air temperature and almost 50 degrees track temperature, which continued to rise throughout FP1.

After Mercedes Formula E driver, and 2021 Formula E World Champion Nyck de Vries, had posted the early benchmark of a 1:27.438 for Williams, Verstappen soon moved into P1 – deposing his fellow Dutch-compatriot after Sainz and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly done likewise.

Verstappen’s initial effort on his first long run on the C1 white side-walled harder compounds was a 1:23.163 and briefly lowered it to a 1:22.693 with two flying tours either side of championship-rival Leclerc momentarily slotting slightly in-front of a 1:22.820 also on the harder rubber.

After going into the pits for a new front wing, Verstappen continued to improve on the harder tyres, posting a 1:22.143 then a 1:21.876 before his 12-lap sting came to an end after the opening 20 minutes.

This remained at the session’s quickest time for the next ten minutes, after which most drivers were running the faster C3 red-marked softer compounds.

Sainz, was the first leader to run the softs and shot to the top of the pile on a 1:19.907.

Five minutes later, Verstappen then set best efforts in sector one and two for his opening stint on the softs, but the reigning world champion wounded up 0.2 seconds off the Spaniard after losing time in the final sector due to encountering traffic.

Leclerc was the next of the front-running drivers to post an effort on the softs, running just after title-rival Verstappen, posting a purple sector two as he jumped to P1 on a 1:19.828 – a narrow 0.079 seconds quicker than team-mate Sainz.

A lengthy halt in track action followed before the drivers returned for the final few minutes, completing race runs.

Mercedes’ George Russell was fourth on a 1:20.590, with the F1 W13 Silver Arrows both heavily upgraded this weekend and showing little porpoising in opening practice.

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso rounded out the top five with a late stint on the softs as most of his rivals remained in the pits, ending in-front of the other F1 W13 Mercedes of Sir Lewis Hamilton.

Both drivers are currently off to the stewards office as a result of Hamilton running over the gravel as he passed Alonso travelling slowly on the yellow-branded C2 mediums just past the mid-way point of the 60-minute session – the Spaniard under investigation for appearing to impede Hamilton’s Mercedes as the Briton was completing his quick effort of FP1.

There were two other impeding incidents during the session – Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas running close to Verstappen’s RB18 through the sector three chicane, which was deemed not worthy of an investigation, and Red Bull’s Juri Vips (filling in for regular Sergio Perez ) appearing to get in Russell’s way through the long up-hill right hander at the start of sector three.

This incident is also currently under investigation, with Russell complaining over the team radio that he nearly “crashed into the back” of the Red Bull, which was driven by Formula 2 driver Vips as one of the Milton Keynes based-outfit’s two rookie FP1 slots for the 2022 campaign (as was the case for de Vries at Williams).

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo placed seventh and ninth in the order respectively with AlphaTauri’s Gasly splitting the duo in eighth.

Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten in the other AT03 AlphaTauri entry with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in 11th and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll taking 12th.

The other non-regular driver taking part in opening practice was Robert Kubica at Alfa Romeo, not taking the rookie slot due to being an experienced driver, with the Polish driver 13th and in-front of Haas F1 Team pairing Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher who were 14th and 15th respectively.

The other Aston Martin AMR22 entry of Sebastian Vettel took 16th and ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Bottas who placed 17th in the classification.

De Vries beat Williams regular Nicholas Latifi to 18th place on the time-sheets before Alexander Albon returns in the afternoon FP2 session.

The aforementioned Vips, in-place of Perez for FP1, brought up the rear and 4.310 seconds adrift after completing most of the session during long run data gathering for Red Bull – his RB18 racer’s rear wing covered in flow-viz paint during the early proceedings.

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio De Espana 2022 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1111/spain/practice-1.html

#Formula1 @Pirelli #SpanishGrandPrix 2022 Preview. #F1 #SpanishGP