'A tricky day to read'published at 10:51 British Summer Time 8 May 2021
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer
Friday in Spain was a tricky day to read. Mercedes are quick; that’s obvious. But after Max Verstappen split their drivers in the first practice session, he was only ninth in the second, after failing to set a representative lap time. But the lap he did do on the soft tyres was there or thereabouts before he went wide at the newly reprofiled Turn 10 - the Red Bull was in the region of 0.1secs off Lewis Hamilton’s fastest lap at the time.
But then neither Mercedes driver was especially happy with the lap he did on Friday, and the team were running their engines down on power on the soft tyre. Additionally, Verstappen’s race-simulation run was quite weak over the first few laps - he was 0.3-0.4secs off the Mercedes on average. Only to suddenly be on their pace as he extended the run. While team-mate Sergio Perez’s pace - about 0.1secs off the Mercedes - also suggested Red Bull were right there, but without the advantage Mercedes expected them to have in Barcelona. So, on balance, another close fight looks in store.
Just behind, Charles Leclerc was strong over one lap in third and Ferrari were also quick on the race runs. But their closest rivals were not Alpine - fourth and fifth with Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso on Friday - but McLaren, for whom Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo were down in 12th and 15th on headline lap times. The Alpine, though, did look strong, and appears to be in the mix at the head of the midfield.
