Norris fastest in scorching Spanish FP1

Lando Norris has picked up in Spain where he left off in Monaco a week ago, going fastest in FP1 for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Norris was the only driver to set a time under 1m14s, topping the time sheets with a 1m13.718s in hot conditions at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The McLaren driver looked in control for the entire session and finished 0.367 seconds ahead of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman, who has won the last three Spanish Grand Prix, set a benchmark time of 1m14.085s on the softs at the halfway point of the session, before being bettered by Norris on the same compound.

Oscar Piastri wasn’t able to match the pace of his teammate, finishing the session 0.576s behind Norris in fifth.

The Aussie set an early banker time on the hards only 0.009s off the British driver, but wasn’t able to maintain that pace on the softer compound.

The Ferrari pair of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc showed strong pace, finishing third and fourth respectively.

The pair were sporting heavily updated front wings on their SF-25s, both in response to the new front wing regulations introduced this weekend by the FIA and as part of planned upgrades.

Racing Bulls and Williams ran large aero rakes on their cars early on in the session, testing out new parts as they too adapt to the new regulations.

The hot conditions during FP1 are predicted to stick around all weekend, with many drivers adapting their session strategy to test out potential tyre compounds for the race.

George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Kimi Antonelli and Williams rookie Victor Martins all set their best times on the medium compound, with none of them using the softs during the session.

Martins, making his F1 race weekend debut as one of Williams’ rookie session drivers in FP1, finished 19th in the session, one spot ahead of the Alpine of Franco Colapinto.

Haas also opted to use one of their four mandated rookie driver sessions in FP1, with Ryo Hirakawa finishing the session in 17th.

The Japanese driver caused the only significant incident of the session, sliding into the gravel at turn 10 after losing the rear of his car.

FP2 is scheduled to get underway at 5pm local time (1am AEST), as the teams continue to prepare for Sunday’s race in the sweltering Spanish heat.

Results: Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, Free Practice 1

This article was originally written for Speedcafe. You can read the published version here