Practice report
Formula 1 Spanish GP
F1 Spanish GP: Sainz fastest from Norris in tight final practice
Home hero Sainz eclipsed former team-mate Norris by a small margin in Formula 1 practice at Barcelona; top four all within a tenth of a second
Jake Boxall-Legge
Edited: Jun 22, 2024, 11:41 AM
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Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Carlos Sainz closed out Formula 1 free practice at the Spanish Grand Prix with the best time in FP3, ahead of Lando Norris by 0.03 seconds.
Sainz managed to beat Norris' soft-tyre benchmark in the final flurry of qualifying simulations, doing what the Mercedes duo and Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc could not.
A slow start to the session ensured that Lewis Hamilton had the circuit to himself in the opening five minutes, which he used to set the soft-tyre benchmark with a 1m14.178s - almost a second shy of his FP2 headliner.
He brought this down to a 1m13.865s shortly after Max Verstappen had set a 1m14.237s on mediums, but had to cede the advantage when George Russell punched in a 1m13.431s time to go fastest.
The two Mercedes were split by the Ferrari drivers; Sainz went up to second, just a tenth shy of Russell's lap, and Leclerc was a mere three-hundredths away from his team-mate after missing the bulk of FP2.
Norris then elbowed his way between Russell and the Ferraris on a lap on mediums, 0.001s clear of Sainz's previous lap. McLaren's preparation ahead of FP3 was almost derailed by a fire in its motorhome, but both drivers were able to take to the circuit with minimal loss in track time.
This early order shuffling ended with a series of longer runs, ahead of a late-session tombola instigated by the final flying runs in preparation for qualifying.
Both McLaren drivers backed out of their initial flyers, Norris aborting his lap through Turn 7 and Piastri doing so before Turn 3, but Norris went again to claim a 1m13.043s on his next attempt.
The Mercedes drivers found improvement and Hamilton clinched a purple middle sector, but a few snaps of oversteer cost him three tenths at the end of the lap. Russell, for his part, put in a time that was just 0.121s shy of Norris' effort.
Sainz overturned Norris' time, however, and punched in a 1m13.013s to put his Ferrari top. This looked set to be eclipsed by Charles Leclerc, but a slight wide moment at Turn 11 took some of the sting out of his lap and put him third - a mere 0.037s shy of Sainz's time.
Norris preserved second as there were no further improvements, although had a contretemps with Leclerc at the end of the session as the Monegasque cut across a slow Norris into Turn 6 and the two made contact.
Verstappen and Russell were fourth and fifth fastest, while sixth-placed Hamilton had his own contact at the end of the first sector with Lance Stroll; Hamilton seemed to impede Stroll slightly and attempted to back out at Turn 5 to let the Aston through, but Stroll appeared to wash out mid-corner and took a swipe at the Mercedes driver.
Sergio Perez, who carries a grid penalty into qualifying, was seventh fastest; just 0.03s ahead of Williams' Alex Albon. Fernando Alonso and Piastri completed the top 10.
Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info
1
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4
Main Information Additional Data
1
-
2
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h 1 C. Sainz Ferrari 55
Ferrari Ferrari 19
1'13.013
229.619 2 L. Norris McLaren 4
McLaren Mercedes 14
+0.030
1'13.043
0.030 229.525 3 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
Ferrari Ferrari 18
+0.037
1'13.050
0.007 229.503 4 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1
Red Bull Red Bull 24
+0.074
1'13.087
0.037 229.386 5 G. Russell Mercedes 63
Mercedes Mercedes 20
+0.151
1'13.164
0.077 229.145 6 L. Hamilton Mercedes 44
Mercedes Mercedes 26
+0.346
1'13.359
0.195 228.536 7 S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11
Red Bull Red Bull 19
+0.710
1'13.723
0.364 227.408 8 A. Albon Williams 23
Williams Mercedes 14
+0.740
1'13.753
0.030 227.315 9 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
Aston Martin Mercedes 21
+0.773
1'13.786
0.033 227.213 10 O. Piastri McLaren 81
McLaren Mercedes 14
+0.894
1'13.907
0.121 226.841 11 E. Ocon Alpine 31
Alpine Renault 18
+0.937
1'13.950
0.043 226.709 12 P. Gasly Alpine 10
Alpine Renault 14
+0.951
1'13.964
0.014 226.667 13 N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27
Haas Ferrari 20
+0.962
1'13.975
0.011 226.633 14 V. Bottas Sauber 77
Sauber Ferrari 19
+1.011
1'14.024
0.049 226.483 15 K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20
Haas Ferrari 27
+1.061
1'14.074
0.050 226.330 16 D. Ricciardo RB 3
RB Red Bull 17
+1.148
1'14.161
0.087 226.064 17 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
Aston Martin Mercedes 16
+1.241
1'14.254
0.093 225.781 18 Y. Tsunoda RB 22
RB Red Bull 22
+1.407
1'14.420
0.166 225.278 19 Z. Guanyu Sauber 24
Sauber Ferrari 17
+1.559
1'14.572
0.152 224.818 20 L. Sargeant Williams 2
Williams Mercedes 12
+1.716
1'14.729
0.157 224.346 View full results
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