Formula One Spanish Grand Prix: Mercedes off the pace as Red Bull dominates

It was a case of rinse and repeat for the dominant Red Bull team, dominating P1 and P2 in Spain, with Lewis Hamilton left to explain why Mercedes was off the pace again.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN – MARCH 05: Third placed Fernando Alonso of Spain and Aston Martin F1 Team celebrates with Lance Stroll of Canada and Aston Martin F1 Team and his team after the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit on March 05, 2023 in Bahrain, Bahrain. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton endured a ‘difficult day’ and said more work was needed on his upgraded Mercedes after struggling to 11th place in Friday’s practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The seven-time champion said he felt that his revised car was ‘not terrible’ on long runs, but he added that he needed to extract more speed on single laps.

“It’s ok,” he said. “We’re fighting as hard as we can - it’s been a difficult day, in P1 and P2, working to get on top of the tyres and the ‘deg’ - and it so different from last week, of course,” he said.

“The long run pace was not terrible, but we need to work on extracting more on a single lap.”

Lewis Hamilton talks to the media at the F1 Grand Prix of Spain at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Picture: Getty Images

Asked how it felt, he replied: “The car feels like... the car.” He added the revised final sector of the track, at the Circuit de Catalunya, was a big improvement with the removal of the chicane. “The final corners are awesome now,” he said.

“Very fast. I much prefer it to the small chicane that was there, but I haven’t followed anyone there yet, but it’s going to be tough through there for the degradation.

“From today’s pace, it’s been a struggle for me to get into the top ten, but we plan some changes overnight. It’s so close between us all from fifth down to P10 and impressive to see all the improvements by everyone.

FP2 CLASSIFICATION

Sixteen drivers within a second of Verstappen 👀#SpanishGP#F1pic.twitter.com/oXvguQ7HgX

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 2, 2023

“Ocon and Alpine look so good and Aston Martin are up to one-tenth from Red Bull which is so impressive.” He added that possible wet weather “can always bring a helping hand” but promised to “work hard tonight to get on top of it.” Teammate George Russell was eighth and said: “It’s been fun to drive the new version of the circuit... We’ve learned a huge amount and can dig into the data now.

Hello Charles Leclerc, goodbye final chicane 👋

Catch up with all the key action from second practice in Barcelona 🎥#SpanishGP#F1

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 2, 2023

“We are not Friday specialists, but we will do what we can, learn from it and move forward tomorrow.”

Defending double world champion Max Verstappen topped the times in both sessions for Red Bull, outpacing Aston Martin’s two-time champion Fernando Alonso at the end of the day ahead of Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg.

After a near-perfect day at the Circuit de Catalunya, where he claimed his maiden victory in 2016 and won last year, the 25-year-old Dutchman said the new layout was “more fun to drive” and would encourage overtaking.

Max Verstappen talks with Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner and Red Bull Racing Team Consultant Dr Helmut Marko during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Spain at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Picture: Getty Images

“Overall, I think we had a very good day,” said Verstappen, who leads this year’s championship by 39 points ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.

“The car was in a good window and of course, you try to fine tune a few things here and there but on the short run and long run everything looked quite good.

“From my side, I felt very comfortable in the car looking after the tyres. I still need to look at the lap times of others but it was a good day.” Asked about the circuit, which has a revised final sector following the removal of a chicane to create faster and more flowing corners, he was enthusiastic.

“It’s been much more fun to drive,” he said.

“In general, F1 cars are better at high speeds so, for me, the last two corners are now much better to drive.

“I tried to follow a few cars, as well, and it seemed to be quite ok there as well – so I was positively surprised for the overtaking.”

ALONSO LASHES OUT AT ARMCHAIR CRITICS

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso on Thursday spoke out in support of under-fire Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll and criticised negative attitudes of sections of the media.

Alonso’s second place at last Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix was his fifth podium finish in six races this year while Stroll, son of team-owner Lawrence Stroll, has suffered successive pointless outings.

“Formula One is very easy when you are sitting on the sofa,” said the 41-year-old Spaniard who is enjoying a rich spell of form this season, leading his young Canadian teammate by 66 points in the drivers’ championship.

“He has been very unlucky at the last two events.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN – MARCH 05: Third placed Fernando Alonso of Spain and Aston Martin F1 Team celebrates with Lance Stroll of Canada and Aston Martin F1 Team and his team after the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit on March 05, 2023 in Bahrain, Bahrain. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

“But, if we go back to Bahrain, driving with one hand (after an off-season injury) he was very fast. Then Jeddah, he had the exhaust problem when he was in front of the Ferraris in P5.

“Then in Miami, we were risking too much probably in Q1 (by using just one set of tyres) and that compromised the race and in Monaco the debris from Lando’s car – the McLaren – it completely compromised the whole weekend,” Alonso added before this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Alonso added these events made it easy to generate negative headlines even though Stroll was within 1.5 seconds of the leading pace.

Lance Stroll's Sunday comes to bumpy end at the hairpin 😖#MonacoGP#F1pic.twitter.com/Lv2wsAGucr

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 29, 2023

Lance Stroll 2023 Monaco highlights pic.twitter.com/UyuLVvwJsp

— auz (@purplesectorz) May 28, 2023

“He has provided the right feedback, info and strategy about everything,” Alonso said.

“I really hope for him that he has a little more luck because I don’t think that he’s missing any pace. It’s just opportunistic moments that were not in his side,” he added.

Alonso also hit out at critics of Aston Martin’s decision to fit him with a set of medium tyres last Sunday, admitting if he had taken intermediates at that time when it was beginning to rain, he may have had hopes of winning.

🗣️ "Lance is a lot better than people think he is, he's very underrated."

Juan Pablo Montoya says Fernando Alonso will make Lance Stroll a better driver 🤜🤛

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) June 1, 2023

“What I don’t like in F1 is that we see always the negatives,” he said. “We never put enough value on the right things the teams do in very stressful moments. We always spot one team that do wrong and then go hard on them,” he added.

He insisted his team made “the right decision” given the conditions. “Maybe – if you had a crystal ball and you know the conditions, you know who stops... But we always see the negatives and we can all see everything easily from the sofa.”

Originally published as Formula One Spanish Grand Prix: Mercedes off the pace as Red Bull dominates