(Montmeló) Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton confirmed the Mercedes revival observed in recent weeks by setting the best time in very tight free practice for the Spanish GP, late Friday afternoon in Montmelo.
The Briton narrowly beat one of the two local heroes, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), and his compatriot Lando Norris (McLaren), who was the fastest in the first practice session at the start of the afternoon.
Hamilton, seventh during the first run a few hours earlier, beat Sainz and Norris by only 22 and 55 thousandths of a second at the end of the 4,657 km circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya, bathed in sun on Friday.
Two weeks after George Russell’s unexpected pole position in Montreal, the Silver Arrows seem to be continuing their rise in power observed in recent weeks. The latter took eighth place on Friday, but less than half a second from his teammate and compatriot.
The field was very tight during the second practice session since the first 16 drivers were within less than a second, an extremely rare occurrence in recent years.
McLaren once again showed great things in Catalonia, notably with a very lively Norris who could fight for victory on Sunday if the papaya cars maintain their level of performance.
Red Bull, on the other hand, still struggled, as in Canada and Monaco in recent weeks. If the triple world champion Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez had taken 2nd and 5th places in the first session, they disappointed in the second with the 5th time for the Dutchman and the 13th for the Mexican.
However, the gaps with the best are small and the Austrian team will remain the favorite for qualifying scheduled for Saturday afternoon even if Verstappen complained several times on the radio about an unstable car.
Fifteen days after a disastrous Grand Prix in Quebec marked by the retirements of its two single-seaters, the Scuderia raised its head in Spain, even if Sainz, in front of his home crowd, did much better than the Monegasque Charles Leclerc.
Third then second, the Spaniard, who has still not revealed in which team he will drive next season, showed himself to his advantage. On the other hand, Leclerc, 11th at the start of the afternoon then 6th in the second practice session, was much further behind.
The unpleasant surprise of the day for Spanish supporters was the 14th place of their favorite Fernando Alonso at the wheel of his Aston Martin. His Canadian teammate Lance Stroll only ranked 18th.
On the French side, Alpine, who expected to suffer on the more conventional Montmelo circuit, was in a party mood, to everyone’s surprise.
A few hours after announcing the arrival in the stable of the controversial Italian Flavio Briatore as “executive advisor”, the French Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon entered the top 10 with an unexpected fourth place for the first and a promising eighth place for the second.
