It was business as usual as Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton shared the top of the standings. Romain Grosjean made two surprising appearances in the top 6 while Max Verstappen remains ‘best of the rest’. Sergio Perez returns to Racing Point and Roy Nissany made his first appearance in an official F1 session.
Report
Temperatures were soaring in Catalyuna and the tyre focus from last week is clearly still a consideration going in to this weekend. Roy Nissany made his first appearance in an official F1 session, replacing George Russell. He was looking for a stronger performance than that of his father, who finished 6 seconds off his team-mate in a practice session back in 2006. He finished last, but was only 0.3 seconds adrift of Nicolas Latifi, who was in the same car. Nissany had a solid session, but did have a spin toward the end. After some shenanigans (including lollipop duties) during FP1, Russell returned for FP2, but didn’t find his groove, finishing last for the first time in 2020.
Williams are normally battling with Alfa Romeo and Haas, but the American outfit found a burst of performance around the Circuit de Catalyuna. Kevin Magnussen managed a top 10 finish, but Romain Grosjean finished 6th and 5th in his respective sessions. With only 1 point to their name in 2020, the team will be looking to add to their total. Alfa Romeo finished toward the back of the grid in both sessions, but appear to be out-performing their closest rivals, Williams.
Ferrari made changes to Sebastian Vettel’s car prior to FP1, changing the chassis after damage was found after the 70th Anniversary GP. Immediately, Vettel seemed much closer to Leclerc, finishing only 0.011 behind the Monagasque in FP1. He dropped back in FP2 however, finishing a disappointing 12th in comparison to his team-mate’s 6th.
McLaren, Renault, Racing Point and Alpha Tauri occupied the middle of the grid. The true performance of the midfield teams, however, is not yet clear. Daniil Kvyat had a late start to his weekend after his car was kept in the garage with an unexplained issue. McLaren appeared to struggle a bit with the stability of their cars, local hero Carlos Sainz will be looking for an improvement before tomorrow’s qualifying session. Sergio Perez returned to his Racing Point car for the first time in 2 races. The Mexican driver returning from his period of isolation. He finished ahead of team-mate Lance Stroll in both sessions and will be looking to make up for any lost points. Esteban Ocon was not comfortable in his Renault, the Frenchman having significant issues with his rear stability. As a result, he was not able to finish higher than 9th, while Daniel Ricciardo managed an impressive 4th in FP2.
It was much the same story at the lofty end of the grid with Mercedes locking out both FP1 and FP2. Bottas edged out Hamilton by 0.039 in the first session. But in FP2, Hamilton managed a more convincing gap, almost 0.3 ahead of Bottas. Meanwhile Max Verstappen was the closest competitor, almost a second off the silver arrows. Alexander Albon continues to struggle with his Red Bull, finishing far off the top 3 in both sessions. It seems that the qualifying result might be a bit more predictable than the previous race, but with temperatures rising, Mercedes may yet again struggle with tyre durability.
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