Leclerc tops again, Mercedes fastest on the straights – Formula 1

The second round of free practice gave us some interesting results. The Mercedes Cars were the fastest on the straights but Charles Leclerc remind the fastest as he managed to get his car on top once again at the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix

Standings 

Here’s how Friday finished 👀

Final FP2 standings #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/z5oRBmF9Jc

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 20, 2022

So free practice went around pretty smoothly. There were no major incidents, but a couple of small ones that were more about one car impeding the other. But the stewards were looking into that. 

Charles Leclerc lead the session after switching got the soft tyres and it looked like no one else could catch up with him. He set an impressive time as he continues to look very comfortable in this year’s Ferrari.

Mercedes upgrades 

An interesting duo that followed him were the Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
The Mercedes car suddenly lost all of its porpoising problems and looked to be brilliantly fast. They ranked 1 & 2 in the performance rankings for the straights.
But this happened last weekend as well, so it will be interesting to see how this reflects into the real qualifying pace.

Car performance rankings on the straights 👀 #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/rwwSHOrEMx

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 20, 2022

Carlos Sainz will look to improve his lap time as the crowd is certainly expecting him to. He finished the session in 4th.

Max Verstappen could only manage 5th best with his teammate Sergio Perez being down in 7th as the Mexican driver had his first drive of the day after Redbull junior Juri Vips completed the Fp1 session.

Fernando Alonso, in his home race weekend, looked to be in a great mood. He ended the session in P6, while his teammate finished in P9. The crowds cheered on as the former world champion looks to better his time. He earlier said that he felt lucky to be a part of his 19th Career Spanish GP. Truly remarkable. 

The Aston Martin got a load of new upgrades as well, which made it look oddly similar to the Redbull car. Prompting some of the best reactions on the internet.

aston big brain moment#SPANISHGP #redbull pic.twitter.com/US4PazG6xT

— AB21 (@f1indianfan) May 20, 2022

aston marting red bull racing 😭 pic.twitter.com/cXErKgudDg

— KT (@keenuch02) May 20, 2022

aston martin and red bull pic.twitter.com/DuY3qJKWu1

— mar 🫧 (@pretzelvettel) May 19, 2022

It also brought out the banter in the paddock as the Redbull team was seen sipping green cans of Redbull during the sessions.

The entire Red Bull pitwall with a green Red Bull can #F1 pic.twitter.com/dBlKebykDe

— LC (@LappedCars) May 20, 2022

However, the upgrades seemed to do their job. At the end of the session, Sebastian Vettel sat in P8 while his teammate managed p13. 

The reason that so many teams got upgrades

The reason that so many teams got upgrades to their cars at Barcelona comes down to many factors.

They all know the track well.

Drivers and teams have been racing at the Barcelona circuit for years. It’s one of the oldest race tracks out there and that certainly does help. The drivers will know what to expect from the track and how the car would behave normally, should anything feel weird. 

The teams have tested in Barcelona during the preseason

At these tests, the teams first started to understand how their car performs and how it does on the track. Since then, there have been 5 races and the teams have had time to understand the car a bit more.Now they can test at Barcelona once again to understand what’s working and what is not.


So only tomorrow will we begin to see if these changes have had a positive effect on the cars. Stay tuned to Fervent Motorsports as we bring this new to you.