Hamilton in the lead after the first day at Montmelo. Sainz second

Lewis Hamilton ended the first day of free practice at the Montmelo track in the lead. Having taken the lead about halfway through the session with a time of 1'13"264, the Englishman proved to be uncatchable for the competition, on the strength of several updates on his W15.

Behind him, just 22 thousandths behind, was Ferrarista Carlos Sainz, who was already in decidedly better shape than teammate Leclerc in the morning. In spite of the fact that compared to the other rivals McLaren did not bring any particular novelty to Spain Lando Norris proved his competitiveness, finishing in the lead in Free Practice 1 and in third place in Free Practice 2, with a gap of just 55 thousandths. For him also a small mistake on a curb a few minutes before the checkered flag, but without major consequences.

It may be because motivated by the arrival of Flavio Briatore in the stable in the role of executive consultant Pierre Gasly managed to put his Alpine in fourth place, ahead of a cautious Max Verstapppen, as often happens not very explosive on Friday and the Ferrari of Charles, on another program than his pit colleague and probably not very interested in chasing the chronometric tally. Seventh was the MCL38 of Oscar Piastri, then the Mercedes of George Russell, very fast at the start of the session but then unable to maintain that pace.

Confirming the good condition of the Alpine Esteban Ocon signed the ninth time, while surprised Valtteri Bottas, tenth with the Sauber. It should be noted that the 60 minutes had several complaints regarding the high degradation of the tires.

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