Ferrari used their extra set of soft tyres to head the first practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel’s best time of 1’23.951 on the soft rubber was almost three seconds fastest than the quickest time seen in the same session last year, set by Nico Rosberg on the hard rubber.
However Rosberg was able to lap just half a second off Vettel’s time using the medium tyres, ending the session in third behind Kimi Raikkonen and a tenth ahead of team mate Kimi Raikkonen.
There was confusion for Ferrari at the end of the session when Vettel exited the pits as the 90 minutes came to an end. He told his team on the radio the pit lane exit light was “just turning red” and stopped his car immediately.
Red Bull also set their best times on the medium tyre but Daniel Ricciardo was almost a full second down on Rosberg. New team mate Max Verstappen, who experienced an acceleration problem on his first day in the RB12, ended up just a tenth of a second down on Ricciardo.
Both Williams drivers featured inside the top ten but Felipe Massa struggled at turn five, spinning on one lap and understeering wide onto the run-off later in the session. At the end of the session he told his team his seat was hurting his back. Team mate Valtteri Bottas was within three-tenths of a second of Ricciardo.
The two FW38s sandwiched the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz Jnr. Fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso was the last driver in the top ten for McLaren, edging out Kevin Magnussen.
Esteban Ocon drove the second Renault but had to abandon his first run due to a puncture. After that he spent most of the session in the pits, emerging to do just half-a-dozen laps without setting a time.
First practice visual gaps
Sebastian Vettel – 1’23.951
+0.138 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’24.089
+0.503 Nico Rosberg – 1’24.454
+0.660 Lewis Hamilton – 1’24.611
+1.465 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’25.416
+1.634 Max Verstappen – 1’25.585
+1.721 Valtteri Bottas – 1’25.672
+2.127 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’26.078
+2.235 Felipe Massa – 1’26.186
+2.292 Fernando Alonso – 1’26.243
+2.625 Kevin Magnussen – 1’26.576
+2.632 Daniil Kvyat – 1’26.583
+2.987 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’26.938
+3.113 Sergio Perez – 1’27.064
+3.302 Felipe Nasr – 1’27.253
+3.307 Romain Grosjean – 1’27.258
+3.332 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’27.283
+3.441 Marcus Ericsson – 1’27.392
+4.133 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’28.084
+5.101 Rio Haryanto – 1’29.052
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
2016 Spanish Grand Prix
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Adam (@rocketpanda)
13th May 2016, 10:41
Didn’t Force India say their car would look different at this race or did I read that wrong? It looks the same.
bosyber (@bosyber)
13th May 2016, 11:02
Could well be they intended to run with old bits in FP1, then switch to the newer parts for FP2? Maybe not helped by that oil leak for Perez.
GeeMac (@geemac)
13th May 2016, 11:20
They did run a new front wing, but you have to look really hard to spot the differences.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
13th May 2016, 11:19
I believe most parts will be introduced at the test after the GP.
Yoseph
13th May 2016, 11:00
Any comparative data on long runs anyone please?
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
13th May 2016, 11:31
Rosberg (Medium):
1:29.000 – 1:28.339 – 1:28.678 – 1:29.098 – 1:29.062 – 1:28.899 – 1:29.273 – 1:29.948
Hamilton (Medium):
1:29.363 – 1:29.087 – 1:30.980 – 1:28.725 – 1:28.996 – 1:29.204 – 1:30.455
Ricciardo (Medium):
1:29.451 – 1:29.259 – 1:29.906 – 1:30.205 – 1:29.952
Bottas (Medium):
1:28.812 – 1:29.201 – 1:29.116 – 1:29.384 – 1:29.360 – 1:29.582 – 1:29.526 – 1:29.750 – 1:29.955 – 1:30.372 – 1:31.471 – 1:31.101 – 1:31.339
Vettel (Soft):
1:28.816 – 1:29.638 – 1:29.597 – 1:29.613 – 1:30.130
Yoseph
13th May 2016, 11:47
Thank you. Much appreciated.
Richard Cantelo. (@richardpcantelo)
13th May 2016, 12:38
Yeah, thanks a lot for the info.
Todfod (@todfod)
13th May 2016, 11:39
The difference between the compounds at a track like Barcelona is quite large if I remember correctly. The Softs should be at least a second in front of the Mediums. Although it’s only FP1, I’m guessing Mercedes still has that 0.5s advantage on Ferrari.
j3d89
13th May 2016, 11:43
Ferrari can use softer tires for longer time… That’s what I think vettel meant when he said strategy was the key to win in sp
miki
13th May 2016, 11:54
@todfod
0.8 according to Pirelli in catalunya.
But i agree merc has that 0.5 advantage. but that will be their least advantage since the v6 regs i.e 2014 in Spain. They are 1 sec faster than P3 in 2014 and 0.8 faster in 2015
Also if Merc Locks out Front row it will be 4th year in a row they did lock out front row which started in 2013.
miki
13th May 2016, 12:00
Also the tires will be lot more over heated in one full flat out lap so it tends to marginalize/decrease the gap to harder compounds which is one of the reason why SS/US wasn’t any faster than Soft by the gap they intended to be back in testing. Soft is good but it needs to be balanced alot in S-1/2 so that they can have reasonable grip through S-3 in flat out Q lap. in race though the gap to softer compounds will increase a bit because of the management over laps. This is where Merc nails mostly and gap to rest is obviously staggering :)
HK (@me4me)
13th May 2016, 12:08
The HAAS looked dreadful in the last sector. Also the Williams looked quite unsettled.
Stefano Bondani
13th May 2016, 12:09
@keithcollantine typo: However Rosberg was able to lap just half a second off Vettel’s time using the medium tyres, ending the session in third behind Kimi Raikkonen and a tenth ahead of team mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Robbie (@robbie)
13th May 2016, 12:22
Oh that just means he was running circles around him.
Jordi Casademunt (@casjo)
13th May 2016, 12:55
People can say anything they want about Räikkönen, but any driver capable of driving for two teams at the same time is ok in my book.
Ian Bond (@ianbond001)
13th May 2016, 13:54
Yeah, Kimi is the coolest.
Mike (@mike)
13th May 2016, 14:07
And he was eating an ice cream at the same time I might add!
Simply amazing.
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
13th May 2016, 12:15
A shame Ocon did not get a proper run.
Hugely impressed by Verstappen though. Is there any more information on the “acceleration problem”?
Robbie (@robbie)
13th May 2016, 12:23
Yeah turns out Kvyat put a rock behind his pedal.
ColdFly F1 (@)
13th May 2016, 12:47
Was resolved when they detached the parachute (with some Russian text on it).
Philip (@philipgb)
13th May 2016, 13:16
“Is there any more information on the “acceleration problem”?”
Yes it’s called Renault.
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
13th May 2016, 14:36
:-)