Spanish GP: Verstappen flies to the top seven-tenths ahead of Perez
2nd June 2023Red Bull’s Max Verstappen hit the ground running in Barcelona, in the first practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix, as the Dutchman dominated the timing boards with an unbeatable one-minute, 14-second lap.
How first practice unfolded…
While the drivers waited for the pit exit light to go green, ahead of the first practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was at the head of the queue, equipped with the new prototype hard tyre and front-fitted aero rakes.
Pirelli tested a new construction to the hard tyres which will be introduced at the British Grand Prix later in the year, which the drivers can use in Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2.
After the first laps were put on the board, only Mercedes’ George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, and Williams’ Alex Albon were on the yellow-ringed medium compound tyres. However, Hulkenberg was on the red-ringed, quicker, soft tyres. The rest of the field was out on the prototype tyre.
However, it wasn’t long before some of the drivers peeled back into the pitlane to swap over their prototype tyres for the usual set of tyres. The Red Bull duo of Sergio Perez and Verstappen were such drivers who peeled into the pitlane to discard their prototypes for the medium tyres.
As the field continued to log laps under their belts, in the last 15 minutes, Verstappen topped the timing board with a blistering 1:14.606 lap around the revamped Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which saw its final chicane removed for a fast double right-hander. Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz rounded out the top three before Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Alpha Tauri’s Nyck De Vries demoted Sainz to fifth.
How the top 10 shaped up, in the final minutes of FP1:
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull (1:14.606)
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine
- Nyck De Vries, Alpha Tauri
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine
- Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
- George Russell, Mercedes
Outside of the top 10, McLaren’s Lando Norris sat in 11th, 1.177 seconds behind Verstappen’s fastest time ahead of Hamilton (12th), Alfa Romeo’s Gunayu Zhou (13th), Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (14th), Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (15th).
Williams’ Alexander Albon found himself at the bottom of the field, at the end of FP1, two seconds behind Verstappen’s best time, behind the likes of his teammate, Logan Sargeant (19th), Hulkenberg (18th), McLaren’s Oscar Piastri (17th) and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas (16th).
That’s all for the article: Spanish GP: Verstappen flies to the top seven-tenths ahead of Perez!
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
