Max ends first day in Barcelona as quickest: 'A lot more fun to drive'

Published on 02 June 2023 by Yannick Jonker

After dominating and being fastest in FP1 in the run up to the Spanish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen was once again at the top of the times at end of the second session. At the adjusted Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Fernando Alonso drove to the second time in his Aston Martin. Nico Hulkenberg drove his Haas to a surprising P3. Max’s teammate at Oracle Red Bull Racing, Sergio Perez, and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon completed the top five.

‘’The track is a lot more fun to drive’’, Max said after FP2 in Barcelona. ‘’Formula 1 cars in general, feel better at high speeds, so for me the last two corners are much better to drive. I tried to follow a few cars as well, and it seemed actually quite ok through there as well. Positively surprised for the overtaking and expect more overtaking opportunities.’’

Max continues to say: ‘’Overall we had a very good day and the car was in a good window. The short and long runs looked quite good.’’

At the start of FP2, the sun is shining and the thermometer reads 22 degrees. The threat of rain, which was present at the end of FP1, has gone with now only 10% chance of wetness during FP2. Right away it is busy on track with several drivers appearing on the Pirelli prototype tyres. Within just minutes everyone has left the pits and is underway.

Max, driving on the prototype tyres, immediately sets the fastest time which a few seconds later is improved by both Ferrari’s. The guys at Ferrari are however, underway on the soft tyres. Max comes in for a pitstop after ten minutes. He swaps the prototype tyres for a set of mediums and has some changes to the front wing and continues on his way.

His first sector on the yellow tyres is purple, the second is green and the third is green too which puts him at P1. His reaction over the radio: ‘’It was not ideal, but I don’t think I could have gone much faster.’’ After 20 minutes both AlphaTauri’s are both in sixth and seventh with Nyck de Vries as quickest of the two.

A little later both Ferrari’s go out on a new set of soft tyres for a qualifying simulation. Both Ferrari’s go past Max who is getting himself ready to also go out on soft tyres. When the Dutchman does eventually go out, he clocks a time under the 1:14 thanks to three purple sectors. With Max in P1 it is Hulkenberg who surprisingly puts his Haas into P2. Also surprising is the fact that the recently introduced updates at Mercedes don’t appear to be delivering the result wished for. With positions six and ten, it will leave Brackley scratching their heads.

After a short visit to the pits Max goes out on a used set of medium tyres for a race simulation. Something we see happening with more drivers. With 20 minutes to go, the top 17 are within a second with Logan Sargeant a second and a half behind Verstappen.

Just like in FP1 we see clouds coming in the second part. However, it doesn’t seem to mount to a shower before the end of the session. After a short visit to the pits Max changes his mediums for a set of used soft tyres to continue his race simulations. Meanwhile, George Russell reports drops of rain in turn nine.

In the closing stages the rain doesn’t continue and we see no time improvements anymore. With that the second session fizzles out and concludes the first day in Barcelona.

Contest GP Spain: win a by Max Verstappen signed Red Bull Racing Driver Cap 2023!

Results second free practice Spain:

pos	driver	team	time	gap	laps
1	Max Verstappen	VER	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	1:13.907		33
2	Fernando Alonso	ALO	Aston Martin Mercedes	1:14.077	+0.170s	29
3	Nico Hulkenberg	HUL	Haas Ferrari	1:14.177	+0.270s	30
4	Sergio Perez	PER	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	1:14.219	+0.312s	29
5	Esteban Ocon	OCO	Alpine Renault	1:14.242	+0.335s	29
6	Charles Leclerc	LEC	Ferrari	1:14.246	+0.339s	31
7	Carlos Sainz	SAI	Ferrari	1:14.274	+0.367s	31
8	George Russell	RUS	Mercedes	1:14.392	+0.485s	30
9	Valtteri Bottas	BOT	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	1:14.448	+0.541s	31
10	Pierre Gasly	GAS	Alpine Renault	1:14.457	+0.550s	28
11	Lewis Hamilton	HAM	Mercedes	1:14.549	+0.642s	30
12	Oscar Piastri	PIA	McLaren Mercedes	1:14.583	+0.676s	29
13	Zhou Guanyu	ZHO	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	1:14.585	+0.678s	28
14	Lando Norris	NOR	McLaren Mercedes	1:14.694	+0.787s	29
15	Kevin Magnussen	MAG	Haas Ferrari	1:14.713	+0.806s	23
16	Nyck De Vries	DEV	AlphaTauri Honda RBPT	1:14.785	+0.878s	32
17	Yuki Tsunoda	TSU	AlphaTauri Honda RBPT	1:14.840	+0.933s	33
18	Lance Stroll	STR	Aston Martin Mercedes	1:15.010	+1.103s	30
19	Alexander Albon	ALB	Williams Mercedes	1:15.056	+1.149s	31
20	Logan Sargeant	SAR	Williams Mercedes	1:15.415	+1.508s	32