Spanish GP: A revealing Friday Practice
Mercedes showed strengths, Ferrari revealed potential weaknesses, and Williams may need to reconsider their driver lineup.
The Silver Arrows debuted some new changes to the aerodynamics of their W13 this weekend, an area that they have struggled with thus far, and the pair of Mercedes drivers are already quicker. Interestingly, George Russell was faster than teammate Lewis Hamilton in both FP1 and FP2; Russell continues to be on form. He scored an impressive second quickest time in FP2 behind the fastest driver of both sessions, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Ferrari is quickest over a lap, but they suffer from tire degradation in longer runs, despite the new suspension fitted for this weekend. This could be worrying for Ferrari because many drivers mentioned the heat in their post-practice interviews.
“We clearly have a bit of work to do over one lap, but yeah long runs at least they look quite decent,” said Max Verstappen in his interview.
Tire degradation has already played a large role in the championship battle, in Saudi Arabia, Imola, and Miami. The RB18’s setup is balanced which allows Verstappen to manage the tires better than Leclerc’s F1-75. Will we see Leclerc claim the pole position in tomorrow’s qualifying session, but get overtaken by Verstappen in the race?
This weekend in FP1, three teams elected to send out their reserve/junior drivers, which they are required to do twice a season. 21-year-old Juri Vips drove for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, veteran driver Robert Kubica drove for Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, and Formula E champion Nyck de Vries drove for Alex Albon at Williams.
In a new car, de Vries drove quicker than the third-year Williams driver, Nicholas Latifi, which doesn’t bode well for the Canadian. When teammate Alex Albon got on track in FP2, he too drove quicker than Latifi.
Albon has produced two points finishes so far this season, while Latifi’s best finish was 14th. Williams has to be considering making changes to their driver line-up for either the end of this season or the 2023 season.