The arrival in Europe of Formula 1 translates into updates and improvements for the single-seaters, and that is what the teams did by opening the season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The highest category of motorsport was prepared to start with the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix, the sixth appointment on the calendar, under a blazing sun.
Ferrari started the weekend with optimism thanks to a double led by the one who still leads the general classification of drivers, Charles Leclerc, although his teammate, Carlos Sainz, with the support of the entire grandstand, including the one with his name, it was only 79 thousandths.
The current world champion did not want to settle for the two consecutive victories he achieved in Imola and Miami, but he was unable to improve the times of the Maranello cars, so he had to settle for third place, more than three tenths .
Mercedes shows signs of improvement, although it is still far from the leaders, specifically seven tenths, which are the ones that have separated George Russell from Leclerc in fourth position, but even more worrying is the situation of Lewis Hamilton, who was sixth.
The other driver at home, Fernando Alonso, achieved a surprising fifth place in his Alpine, ahead of the aforementioned Hamilton , Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly and Daniel Ricciardo.
Yuki Tsunoda made the cut for the top ten in this first free practice session in Barcelona, although the Japanese finished almost two seconds behind the Ferrari crown.
Results of Free Practice 1 of the Spanish GP 2022 Formula 1
(Click on ‘see results’ to enjoy the entire table)
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Km/h | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
27 | 1’19.828 | ||
| two |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
|
27 | 1’19,907 | 0.079 | |
| 3 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
28 | 1’20.164 | 0.336 | |
| 4 |  George Russell |
 |
28 | 1’20.590 | 0.762 | |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso |
 |
24 | 1’20.768 | 0.940 | |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton |
|
27 | 1’20.811 | 0.983 | |
| 7 | Lando Norris |
 |
24 | 1’21.279 | 1.451 | |
| 8 |  Pierre Gasly |
 |
23 | 1’21,422 | 1,594 | |
| 9 |  Daniel Ricciardo |
|
23 | 1’21.737 | 1.909 | |
| Ten |  Yuki Tsunoda |
|
28 28 | 1’21.814 | 1.986 | |
| see results | ||||||
Summary: this was the free 1 of the Spanish GP 2022 of Formula 1
The 2022 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix began with great anticipation due to the countless improvements of the teams, although the one that stood out the most was that of Aston Martin, who with Sebastian Vettel took first place to go out on the track in free practice on Friday . Other teams, such as Williams, or Red Bull, chose this session to meet one of the mandatory days in which they must put a young driver, with Nyck de Vries and Juri Vips respectively, in addition to the fact that Robert Kubica was in the Alfa Romeo by Guanyu Zhou.
Carlos Sainz also did not want to take long to jump onto the hot asphalt of Barcelona with his Ferrari, which has been modified to improve and be able to catch up with the RB18 that has dominated in the last two rounds. The stands supported their local driver from the start, just as they did with Fernando Alonso, who took the controls of the Alpine as soon as these first practices began.
The porpoising was still present in the single-seaters, something that was discovered in the pre-season tests in this same scenario, although it was not as strong as it was back then. The first five minutes were relaxed, but not without cars on the track, as the vast majority tested with the famous grids or aero rakes to collect aerodynamic data.
Max Verstappen was the first to set a time as a reference, a 1:23.163 with hard tires, ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, the world leader, although he soon dropped to 1:22.693 , still far from the times that were they will see on Saturday in the classification with softer tires.
The minutes kept running, and McLaren seemed to be the most active team, with a much improved MCL36, with up to ten modifications, and with the medium compounds, while the rest went with the hard one. It was at this moment that the current world champion, Max Verstappen, reported on the radio that he had problems with one of the pieces of his RB18, which was off the hook, and Red Bull decided to change his front wing.
With 40 minutes still to go in these first free practices in Spanish territory, the drivers remained cautious, not going for fast laps, and it was obvious, since the main objective was to obtain the correlation of the data in the wind tunnel with track behaviour. The heat also took its toll on the tires, so it was essential to study how they worked and what was the correct window to have them ready at the time of qualifying.
The biggest scare up to that moment was for Yuki Tsunoda, who warned AlphaTauri by radio that there was something broken in the back area of his cockpit, so he immediately entered the pitlane. Many took the opportunity to do the same, and only six cars remained rolling, including Vips and Kubica, who wanted to add kilometers.
The top of the classification kept its cards, but Verstappen continued with the dominating dynamic that he showed in the last two tests, with eight tenths ahead of Leclerc and nine over George Russell. The other Ferrari, Sainz’s, was still far from the leading marks, more than a second in fifth position, more than a second behind Red Bull.
This free practice session was the golden opportunity for Nyck de Vries, who wanted to surprise, and he did so when he placed fourth in a Williams despite complaining about the traffic he encountered in the last sector of the track.
The one who did not suffer from the single-seater problems on his way was Carlos Sainz, who, half an hour before seeing the checkered flag, set up a set of softs to set a 1:19.907 and climb to first position, with almost two seconds ahead of Verstappen .
Lando Norris imitated the man from Madrid, with red tires, but the McLaren rider could only be second, 1.3 seconds behind the Ferrari’s time. The young Briton’s joy was rather short-lived, as George Russell sent him down one position when he improved with the W13 , as did his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who posted the third-fastest lap.
Fernando Alonso , meanwhile, had a curious conversation with his team, and it seems that the Oviedo wanted to set up a game of soft and, by mistake, they put some medium ones on him, so he went to the pitlane to put on the red ones. During that moment in which he was talking on the radio, Hamilton was coming from behind, and had to go around the outside to avoid touching the Spanish.
With just over 20 minutes to go, Leclerc reclaimed the lead with a 1m29.828s to climb to the top, 79 thousandths ahead of Sainz. The real pace of the Red Bulls remained to be seen, but Vips was not going to risk leaving Pérez without his car for the second free practice session, leaving the last one almost 10 seconds behind the leading times.
After this first set of fast turns, the Ferraris showed that the improvements seem to have been correct, but the local hero, Alonso, roused the stands when he placed fifth on his timed lap with the softs, between the two Mercedes, and less than one second off the leader.
With a quarter of an hour to go before the checkered flag fell, the best positioned in the table returned to the garage for one last attempt with the track in better conditions, although Pierre Gasly was still testing his AT03 with a clear road, ideal when they love each other. gather data, which Hamilton had already done in the Mercedes as he was the one who had lapped the most, with 21 laps.
When everything seemed to be going without a major problem, the race management announced an investigation into the encounter on the track between Hamilton and Alonso, although the resolution would come during the afternoon.
Something similar happened with Russell and Vips, as the Briton found the Estonian blocking his way before heading into the final sector, and with Verstappen and Bottas, as the two crossed paths at Turn 15.
In this way the first tests in Barcelona ended, with the Ferraris leading over Max Verstappen, and further away the Mercedes finished, with Russell 4th and Hamilton 6th. Alonso, despite the open investigation, was 5th, ahead of the two McLarens and the two AlphaTauris.
