F1 results: Max Verstappen fastest in Spanish GP practice

Verstappen was fastest in both FP1 and FP2, but Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso got to within 0.17s of the championship leader in the latter.

Spanish Grand Prix FP1 results: Verstappen fastest from Perez

Cla	Driver		Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Max Verstappen		32	1'14.606			224.620
2	Sergio Perez		32	1'15.374	0.768	0.768	222.331
3	Esteban Ocon		28	1'15.418	0.812	0.044	222.201
4	Nyck de Vries		27	1'15.504	0.898	0.086	221.948
5	Pierre Gasly		27	1'15.545	0.939	0.041	221.828
6	Fernando Alonso		24	1'15.547	0.941	0.002	221.822
7	Kevin Magnussen		22	1'15.689	1.083	0.142	221.406
8	Charles Leclerc		28	1'15.694	1.088	0.005	221.391
9	Carlos Sainz		27	1'15.726	1.120	0.032	221.297
10	George Russell		32	1'15.753	1.147	0.027	221.218
11	Lando Norris		25	1'15.783	1.177	0.030	221.131
12	Lewis Hamilton		29	1'15.845	1.239	0.062	220.950
13	Zhou Guanyu		24	1'15.906	1.300	0.061	220.773
14	Yuki Tsunoda		27	1'15.915	1.309	0.009	220.746
15	Lance Stroll		25	1'15.939	1.333	0.024	220.677
16	Valtteri Bottas		24	1'15.978	1.372	0.039	220.563
17	Oscar Piastri		26	1'16.353	1.747	0.375	219.480
18	Nico Hulkenberg		28	1'16.461	1.855	0.108	219.170
19	Logan Sargeant		30	1'16.506	1.900	0.045	219.041
20	Alex Albon		28	1'16.630	2.024	0.124	218.687
View full results

What happened in Spanish GP Free Practice 1?

Verstappen went to the top of the times five minutes into the session, setting 1m16.583s on the Pirelli prototype tyre, which will make its race debut at Silverstone.

His Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez briefly beat him with his first flying lap of 1m16.420s on medium-compound rubber, but Verstappen topped that with 1m15.945s, almost half a second clear.

Just after the halfway point of the session Verstappen switched to the softs, unleashing 1m14.606s, putting him 0.768s clear of Perez.

As in Monaco, Esteban Ocon was best of the rest for Alpine, eight tenths down on Verstappen and less than a tenth clear of an impressive Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri).

Pierre Gasly (Alpine) was fifth fastest but collided with Logan Sargeant’s Williams at the Turn 10 hairpin. Alonso was sixth for Aston, just under a second off the pace, head of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.

The Ferrari duo were eighth and ninth, with Charles Leclerc fractionally faster running the old sidepods than Carlos Sainz, who was using the new Red Bull-style setup. George Russell rounded out the top 10 in the updated Mercedes, two spots ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Spanish Grand Prix FP2 results: Verstappen fastest from Alonso

Cla	Driver		Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Max Verstappen		34	1'13.907			226.744
2	Fernando Alonso		30	1'14.077	0.170	0.170	226.224
3	Nico Hulkenberg		31	1'14.177	0.270	0.100	225.919
4	Sergio Perez		30	1'14.219	0.312	0.042	225.791
5	Esteban Ocon		30	1'14.242	0.335	0.023	225.721
6	Charles Leclerc		32	1'14.246	0.339	0.004	225.709
7	Carlos Sainz		32	1'14.274	0.367	0.028	225.624
8	George Russell		31	1'14.392	0.485	0.118	225.266
9	Valtteri Bottas		32	1'14.448	0.541	0.056	225.096
10	Pierre Gasly		29	1'14.457	0.550	0.009	225.069
11	Lewis Hamilton		31	1'14.549	0.642	0.092	224.791
12	Oscar Piastri		30	1'14.583	0.676	0.034	224.689
13	Zhou Guanyu		29	1'14.585	0.678	0.002	224.683
14	Lando Norris		30	1'14.694	0.787	0.109	224.355
15	Kevin Magnussen		24	1'14.713	0.806	0.019	224.298
16	Nyck de Vries		33	1'14.785	0.878	0.072	224.082
17	Yuki Tsunoda		34	1'14.840	0.933	0.055	223.917
18	Lance Stroll		31	1'15.010	1.103	0.170	223.410
19	Alex Albon		32	1'15.056	1.149	0.046	223.273
20	Logan Sargeant		33	1'15.415	1.508	0.359	222.210
View full results

What happened in Spanish GP Free Practice 2?

Verstappen set the early benchmark on prototype tyre at 1m15.655s before Sainz took P1 with 1m14.999s, versus Leclerc’s 1m15.600s, both set on soft tyres.

Verstappen didn’t stay in third for long, slinging on a set of mediums and going fastest on 1m14.968s, just 0.031s faster than Sainz despite a scruffy lap.

Sainz responded by jumping to a new set of softs, producing 1m14.274s, before Verstappen put him in his place with a 1m13.907s. Alonso took second with the fastest final sector time, just 0.17s away from Verstappen overall.

Nico Hulkenberg kept Haas’s strong form going by taking P3, 0.27s down on Verstappen, and ahead of Perez, Ocon and the Ferraris – with Leclerc ahead of Sainz.

Russell was eighth this time, ahead of Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Hamilton.