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Spanish GP: Lewis Hamilton surges to fastest Practice Two time with chasing pack ahead of Red Bull | F1 News

On: June 21, 2024 By: admin

Lewis Hamilton set the pace for Mercedes in a fascinating Practice Two session at the Spanish Grand Prix in which Max Verstappen was only fifth fastest after a struggle in his Red Bull.

Underlining the growing multi-team competitiveness at the front of the field in F1 on a Barcelona circuit that Verstappen absolutely dominated on last year, Red Bull’s big rivals – Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren – finished with one car apiece in a closely-matched top three.

And it was Hamilton, who has endured a difficult season so far and was disappointed with his own performance last time out in Canada when team-mate George Russell took pole and then contended for the win, who posted Friday’s quickest lap of 1:13.264.

Spain’s Carlos Sainz, whose Ferrari team have brought a big car upgrade to this event, was a mere 0.022s adrift in second place with McLaren’s Lando Norris, the Practice One pacesetter, only 0.055s off the front himself.

Verstappen though finished 0.240s back in fifth behind surprise interloper Pierre Gasly, who was fourth on a competitive opening day for Alpine. Esteban Ocon was ninth in their other car.

On his earlier medium-tyre run, Verstappen was heard over Red Bull team radio complaining about his car’s balance, particularly at the rear, on a high-speed track where the ability to attack the fast corners is key.

The RB20 then did not show the outright pace of the top three when the field switched down to the soft-tyre runs.

Team-mate Sergio Perez, who carries a three-place grid penalty into Saturday from the last race, was only 13th in the sister car despite completing his soft-tyre run later than everyone else when grip levels should have been more advantageous.

Charles Leclerc was only sixth in the second Ferrari with Oscar Piastri seventh in the other McLaren.

Mercedes’ Russell had set the pace on the medium compound but slipped to eighth on the soft-tyre simulations.

More to follow…

Spanish GP Practice Two Timesheet


Driver	Team	Time
1) Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:13.264
2) Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+0.022
3) Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.055
4) Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+0.179
5) Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+0.240
6) Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.333
7) Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+0.358
8) George Russell	Mercedes	+0.458
9) Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+0.502
10) Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	+0.660
11) Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+0.757
12) Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	+0.789
13) Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+0.817
14) Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+0.827
15) Yuki Tsunoda	RB	+0.947
16) Daniel Ricciardo	RB	+0.993
17) Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	+1.081
18) Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+1.138
19) Alex Albon	Williams	+1.543
20) Logan Sargeant	Williams	+1.806

Sky Sports F1’s live Spanish GP schedule

Friday June 21
1.55pm: F3 Qualifying
2.50pm: F2 Qualifying
3.35pm: Spanish GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)
5.25pm: F1 Academy Qualifying
6.15pm: The F1 Show

Saturday June 22
9.35am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Spanish GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.10pm: Spanish GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: Spanish GP Qualifying
5pm: F1 Academy Race 1

Sunday June 23
7.45am: F1 Academy Race 2
9am: F3 Feature Race
10.30am: F2 Feature Race
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Spanish GP build-up
2pm: The SPANISH GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Spanish GP reaction

Formula 1 heads back to Europe as the championship moves on to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix and the start of a triple-header. Watch every session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime

Canadian GP: Lewis Hamilton fastest by four tenths from Max Verstappen in searing Practice Three for Mercedes | F1 News

On: June 8, 2024 By: admin

Montreal specialist Lewis Hamilton set a searing pace to lead Max Verstappen by nearly four tenths of a second in a final practice session that appeared to offer Mercedes real hope of being contenders in Canadian GP qualifying.

Hamilton, the joint record-holder for wins at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with seven – which includes his very-first in F1 in 2007 – had appeared noticeably upbeat about Mercedes prospects this weekend after the opening day’s action despite Friday’s running having been heavily compromised by rain.

The seven-time world champion is yet to qualify higher than seventh for a Grand Prix so far in 2024 amid his worst start to a season but, armed with the latest specification W15 front wing for the first time on Saturday, Hamilton caught the eye in the event’s first-full dry session with an impressive best lap of 1:12.549.

Red Bull rival Verstappen worked his way up to second by the end of the session after first running the soft tyre later than most, but the championship leader still finished a distant 0.374s back on the flying lead Mercedes and brushed the infamous ‘Wall of Champions’ – the circuit’s final corner – with his right-rear tyre in the session’s closing moments.

“The car looks good,” said Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. “When you watch that on-board, it looks predictable, it looks like he can attack and hustle it.

“We haven’t seen that level of confidence form Lewis Hamilton for a while.”

After his RB20 suffered an Energy Recovery System fault on Friday, Red Bull meanwhile reverted to an older power unit for Verstappen for the remainder of the weekend.

Sergio Perez was only ninth in the second Red Bull.

Qualifying starts at 9pm live on Sky Sports F1, with build-up from 8pm, with the threat of rain set to return in Montreal.

Underlining Mercedes’ apparent promise, George Russell finished third in the second W15 – albeit four tenths behind his team-mate – with Canada’s own Lance Stroll fourth for Aston Martin and Oscar Piastri the lead McLaren in fifth.

Monaco victors Ferrari have been many pundits’ tips to be the quickest package in Canada, but they struggled in final practice with Charles Leclerc finishing 10th and Carlos Sainz 12th.

“We are extremely slow,” said a concerned-sounding Leclerc over Ferrari team radio.

RB have hitherto impressed, however, with Daniel Ricciardo finishing final practice up in sixth place in a car that is quick in a straight line.

Lando Norris was seventh in the second McLaren, ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Red Bull’s Perez and Leclerc in the first of the Ferraris.

Teams rack up the laps but trouble for Zhou and Albon

Teams used the final hour of running before qualifying to make up for lost time after Friday’s two sessions were heavily compromised by intermittent rain.

With no shortage of new-slick-tyre sets left available as a result, the session was a busy one with teams racing to find the ideal set-up for their cars on what is an all-new track surface for this year.

For the second time in two days Zhou crashed his Sauber, causing a red flag.

The session was just six minutes old when Zhou lost control of the car going through the first chicane, spinning around and off the circuit into a rearwards impact with the barriers. It ended the Chinese driver’s session after just four laps.

“I have no idea what’s happened with the car,” said a perplexed-sounding Zhou on team radio.

“The car is so strange, man, it just locks up at the rear.”

Later on, Alex Albon was the other driver to do noticeable damage to his car, the Williams driver hitting the Wall of Champions himself. He at least completed 22 laps, finishing up 18th fastest.

More to follow…

Sky Sports F1’s live Canadian GP schedule

8pm: Canadian GP Qualifying build-up
9pm: Canadian GP Qualifying
11pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday June 9
5.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Canadian GP build-up
7pm: THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
9pm: Chequered Flag – Canadian GP reaction
10pm: Ted’s Notebook

Formula 1 is on Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix and you can watch every session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve this weekend live on Sky Sports F1, with Sunday’s race at 7pm. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime

Canadian GP: Fernando Alonso fastest in rain-affected second practice in Montreal as Max Verstappen suffers fire | F1 News

On: June 7, 2024 By: admin

Fernando Alonso was fastest in a rain-affected second practice at the Canadian Grand Prix as championship leader Max Verstappen suffered a fire.

The session was ran in drying conditions but the rain increased with 30 minutes to go, so Alonso got the best time on the board during the dry running as he went 0.463s quicker than Mercedes’ George Russell.

Reigning world champion Verstappen only completed four laps due to an ERS (electrical recovery system) failure, which saw the car catch a smile fire as he came back into the garage. Both Red Bulls were fitted with a new engine ahead of Friday’s running in Montreal.

Verstappen has a 31-point lead over Charles Leclerc in the drivers’ championship but Red Bull are expected to be slightly on the backfoot again due to the high kerbs at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, an area where Ferrari are stronger.

But the rain throughout both practice sessions means nobody has had any seriously representative running.

Alonso’s 1:15.810 was two seconds slower than the best dry lap time from 2023. Nevertheless, Aston Martin were very quick in the drying conditions as home driver Lance Stroll was third, ahead of Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo in fifth.

Impossible to predict pecking order

Ferrari were described as favourites for victory this weekend in Montreal by Lando Norris, but McLaren should also be in contention for the win on Sunday.

Norris, who topped first practice, was last in the classification and team-mate Oscar Piastri was 16th, but their positions don’t represent their actual pace.

Lewis Hamilton finished second practice in seventh and was one of several drivers to complain about traffic going into the final chicane.

Alonso called out Leclerc for blocking at the end of the back straight, stating it was “typical Ferrari”. Leclerc is under investigation for a “tyre usage” incident.

The stewards have not confirmed what the incident is about but Leclerc went onto the track in the first minute of the session on intermediates, when the track was not declared wet.

Rules state the drivers cannot use intermediate or wet tyres if the circuit is not declared a “wet track”, a message which appeared five minutes into the session.

Sky Sports F1’s live Canadian GP schedule

Saturday June 8
5.15pm: Canadian GP Practice Three (session starts at 5.30pm)
8pm: Canadian GP Qualifying build-up
9pm: Canadian GP Qualifying
11pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday June 9
5.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Canadian GP build-up
7pm: THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
9pm: Chequered Flag – Canadian GP reaction
10pm: Ted’s Notebook

Canadian GP: Lando Norris fastest from Carlos Sainz in first practice after huge Montreal hailstorm | F1 News

On: June 7, 2024June 7, 2024 By: admin

Lando Norris was fastest from Carlos Sainz after a huge hailstorm caused limited running in first practice at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

The final six minutes of the session saw the drivers switch to dry tyres as the track quickly dried out during practice, so most drivers posted their best lap at end of practice.

Norris went 0.328s quicker than Carlos Sainz, with Monaco race-winner Charles Leclerc another half a second back in third.

Lewis Hamilton, who won his first F1 race in Montreal 17 years ago, had a new power unit in his car and was fourth from championship leader Max Verstappen, who was one of several drivers to go through the wet, muddy grass at Turns Eight and Nine.

Verstappen comes into the weekend with Ferrari and McLaren expected to seriously challenge Red Bull, who could be on the backfoot again due to their apparent weakness with kerbs.

Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu hit the wall at Turn Five and damaged his suspension, forcing him to stop and caused a short red flag at the halfway point of first practice.

The session was effectively red flagged for the opening 21 minutes of the session as the pit lane was closed, so the marshals could clear the standing water.

Alpine’s Jack Doohan drove Esteban Ocon’s car in first practice but didn’t complete a flying lap as the team elected to save car and tyre mileage.

Doohan is a candidate to take over Ocon’s seat for 2025 after the Frenchman confirmed earlier this week that he will leave Alpine at the end of this year.

More wet weather is forecast for the remainder of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, so there could be plenty of incidents and excitement in Qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday.

Canadian GP Practice One Timesheet

DriverTeamTime


1) Lando Norris	McLaren	1:24.435
2) Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+0.328
3) Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.871
4) Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+1.535
5) Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+2.067
6) Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+2.319
7) Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+3.149
8) Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	+3.235
9) Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+3.623
10) George Russell	Mercedes	+4.106
11) Daniel Ricciardo	RB	+4.147
12) Yuki Tsunoda	RB	+4.288
13) Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+4.617
14) Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	+8.391
15) Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+8.976
16) Logan Sargeant	Williams	+12.151
17) Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+16.095
18) Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	No Time
19) Jack Doohan	Alpine	No Time
20) Alex Albon	Williams	No Time

Sky Sports F1’s live Canadian GP schedule

Friday June 7
8pm: The F1 Show
9.45pm: Canadian GP Practice Two (session starts at 10pm)

Saturday June 8
5.15pm: Canadian GP Practice Three (session starts at 5.30pm)
8pm: Canadian GP Qualifying build-up
9pm: Canadian GP Qualifying
11pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday June 9
5.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Canadian GP build-up
7pm: THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
9pm: Chequered Flag – Canadian GP reaction
10pm: Ted’s Notebook