How long-run pace compared in F1 Spanish GP practice
George Russell was the fastest long-run driver with a lot of fuel on board. His closest challenger was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen over Friday’s practice sessions ahead of the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix. The Dutchman was just 0.13 seconds per lap slower after adjusting for different tyre compounds and stint lengths.
World championship leader Kimi Antonelli was the third-fastest long-run driver, although he was 0.55s per lap behind Russell.
Ferrari and McLaren were disappointing across the board in the race simulations. Both Ferraris were around nine tenths of a second per lap slower than Mercedes, while Oscar Piastri’s long run was even 1.51s per lap slower. Team-mate Lando Norris was unable to complete any long runs due to technical problems.
Has Mercedes not shown everything yet?
The competition may be particularly concerned by a look back at last weekend in Italy. There, Mercedes was still level with Ferrari in the long runs on Friday, while McLaren was two tenths of a second off the pace.
On race Sunday, however, the Silver Arrows were ultimately eight tenths per lap faster than both teams.
Mercedes therefore traditionally appears to show less on Fridays than the competition, which could be a bad omen for the rest of the weekend. However, caution is also required, as the track in Madrid is new. Larger setup changes can therefore be expected for Saturday.
The competition also appears to be closer over a single lap. If the fastest sector times of each driver are added together, Charles Leclerc could theoretically have set the fastest lap with a 1:33.478. Of the top six drivers, however, only Arvid Lindblad was able to combine all of his best sector times into a single lap.
Does Mercedes have better battery management?
Nevertheless, the question remains where Mercedes’ advantage comes from, particularly in the long runs. And the answer appears to be clear: the competition is losing too much time in the final sector.
Mercedes was already able to set the fastest time in the third sector during the qualifying simulations, but with a lot of fuel on board, the team can apparently extend that advantage even further.
Ferrari appear to be off the pace of Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Looking at the telemetry data, it is noticeable that Mercedes appears to use less battery power in the first sector, yet is still only marginally slower than the competition. In the final sector, however, Mercedes has a clear top-speed advantage, which appears to pay off particularly in the long-run mapping.
While Mercedes excels in the final sector, Ferrari can score points in the first sector, while Max Verstappen and Red Bull are very strong in the fast second sector. McLaren is the only team that is consistently too slow across all three sectors.
Midfield: Where did Haas suddenly come from?
Racing Bulls once again made the headlines in the midfield on Friday – and for two reasons.
Firstly, Arvid Lindblad finished fourth in the second practice session, just 0.228s off the pace. Shortly afterwards, however, he caused a heavy crash that resulted in a red flag.
As a result, Racing Bulls was unable to complete any truly representative long runs. Team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was also running a different programme and completed his qualifying and race simulations in a single stint, probably with a low fuel load.
That meant Haas actually recorded the best long-run pace in the midfield. Esteban Ocon was just 0.92s per lap behind Mercedes’ Russell during his stint, putting the Frenchman practically on Ferrari’s level.
Alpine (+1.60), Audi (+2.20), Williams (+2.58), Cadillac (+4.00) and Aston Martin (+4.33) followed behind, with some considerable gaps.
Racing Bulls had a strong Friday
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
However, caution is also required here given that this is the Madrid track’s debut. There is still plenty of potential for setup changes to alter the picture.
“Six stops”: How high is tyre degradation in Madrid?
The performance of some teams was not the only surprise on Friday. The behaviour of the tyres was also unexpected. As a street circuit with what is essentially a smooth asphalt surface, high tyre degradation was not initially expected. However, that may now be changing.
“At the beginning it was tricky because the track has so much grip, even though it is completely new asphalt,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff explained to Sky. “And interestingly, we have the opposite problem to what we expected. We can’t quite get the tyre up to temperature. It takes a lap and then it gets a little better. But of course, the tyre degradation is incredible, because of the grip.”
When asked more specifically, Wolff spoke of “eight tenths of degradation per lap” in the first free practice session.
“We’ve never seen that before,” said Wolff. “Our strategy chief said six stops. But I think in the end it will be one stop.”
Toto Wolff warned about tyre degradation in Spain
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Nevertheless, degradation in the second free practice session was also around three tenths per lap during the long runs. At the moment, that points more towards a two-stop race than a one-stop strategy.
However, more running should bring more grip to the track, which could reduce tyre degradation over the course of the weekend.
Just how unclear the tyre situation still is can also be seen in a contrasting statement from Pirelli’s motorsport chief Dario Marrafuschi, also speaking to Sky:
“The grip of the asphalt is really good, so we will most likely have less degradation than expected.”
The further course of the weekend in Madrid will show who ultimately gets their prediction right.
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