Verstappen dominates, but Alonso presses in Barcelona

02/06/2023

Act. a las 18:18

CEST

The World Championship leader has dominated the first two free sessions and is the great favorite for pole position this Saturday

The benefits of Fernando and his Aston Martin continue to feed the dream of the 33

Impressive performance of Max Verstappen and Red Bull on the first day of practice for the Spanish F1 GP, seventh round of the championship. The Dutchman has dominated the first two free practice sessions with enormous authority and has shown that he will be very difficult to beat this weekend.

Fernando Alonso He continues to feed ‘Alonsomania’ after setting the second best time in Free 2, staying less than two tenths behind Max. The Spaniard, who, like all the other drivers, tested the tires that will be released at Silverstone during the day, completed a spectacular lap to take a virtual front row position ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Checo Perez.

Ferrari has also taken a step forward with the package that opens this weekend, mainly aerodynamics, affecting the profile, mirrors and rear wing. Carlos Sainz has tested the modifications in Free 1 and in the second the two have already ridden it, a fact that would indicate that the first analysis has been positive. In the afternoon session, Leclerc was sixth and Sainz seventh, standing just over three tenths behind Verstappen.

There was great expectation to see if the gap with Red Bull had been reduced, but all doubts were quickly cleared up. The only hope now comes down to the weather, since the forecasts indicate that it could rain both in qualifying and in the race and this, logically, would equalize the benefits because it would also increase the chances of an error.

TEST CIRCUIT FOR EXCELLENCE

Barcelona is probably the best circuit to understand the potential of the car and see where everyone is compared to the competition. In addition to being a track that drivers and teams know perfectly well, which alternates slow corners with high-speed ones and two long straights, this year is highly relevant because it comes after three races that have been held consecutively on an urban circuit. : Baku, Miami and Monaco.

All the teams, without exception, have prepared improvements to the cars for the weekend with the intention of reducing the differences with Red Bull, the team that dominates this championship with authority and that has won the six races held (4 Verstappen and 2 Pérez ). The first practice sessions have shown that the Red Bull cars are still one step ahead and are the big favorites to win the race. Max has already won twice, in 2016 when he meant his first win in F1 and in 2022.

Due to the large number of improvements that some teams have brought to Barcelona, ​​many did not focus on lap times and simply sought to collect a lot of data to analyze their updates and try to get everything set up so they could get the most out of qualifying. (4:00 p.m.).

THE CHANGES IN THE CIRCUIT

Another point that drew attention was how the suppression of the RACC chicane, the junction between turns 14/15, was going to be affected, and as was to be expected, the times dropped dramatically from the first free practice, in which I already they returned to the records of 2006. Charles Leclerc achieved pole position in 2022 with a time of 1:18.750 while Fernando Alonso made his fastest lap in 2006 with a 1:14.648. Verstappen in the first Free has already done this year 1: 14.606, giving a series of warning to his opponents in the first stake.

The chicane that has been removed this year was introduced in 2007 for security reasons and the pilots have always pointed out that it took away from the excitement of the circuit. The curve, which has returned to the original layout, will be tough for the drivers from a physical point of view, but also very demanding on the tires and could cause more overtaking on the straight on a track where traditionally it’s hard to see them.

Spanish GP. Free 2:

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1’13.907

2. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) at 0.170

3. Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) to 0.270

4. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) at 0.312

5. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) a 0.335

6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) a 0.339

7. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) at 0.367

8. George Russell (Mercedes) a 0.485

9. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) a 0.541

10. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) a 0.550

11. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) a 0.642

12. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) a 0.676

13. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) a 0.678

14. Lando Norris (McLaren) a 0.787

15. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) a 0.806

16. Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri) a 0.878

17. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) a 0.933

18. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) a 1.103

19. Alexander Albon (Williams) a 1.149

20. Logan Sargeant (Williams) a 1.508