2024 Spanish Grand Prix: Norris leads Verstappen in First Practice

Lando Norris was fastest in the first Practice session of the 2024 FIA World Championship Spanish Grand Prix weekend, edging out Drivers Championship leader, Max Verstappen.

As the green lights signalled the start of a triple header of European races to come, starting with Barcelona this weekend. Oracle Red Bull Racing will be hoping to get back to top form after a difficult few race weekends, despite getting the win in Montreal. The Milton Keynes based outfit have brought a big upgrade package this weekend, but so have Constructors Championship rivals, Scuderia Ferrari. Red Bull junior team, Visa Cash App RB have also brought a sizeable upgrade.

With the drivers getting more comfortable, the track was getting quicker, but the session was halted temporarily due to debris on track from Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin Armaco F1 Team car. This small delay meant everyone came back out on different run plans – some opting for long runs and others on qualifying simulations.

Norris was the quickest at the chequered flag, with a time of 1:14.228s, which was around four tenths better than the quickest time in Free Practice One in 2023. Verstappen’s fastest time was only good enough for second, while Carlos Sainz Jr. ended the hour +0.344s back from his former teammate in third.

Photo: McLaren Media Centre

George Russell was the lead Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team car in fourth, ahead of Sergio Pérez and Oscar Piastri. Lewis Hamilton was running a different programme to his teammate, finishing the hour in seventh.

Esteban Ocon looked quick during the open hour of practice, ending eighth. Alonso and Alex Albon rounded out the top ten. Charles Leclerc was eleventh quickest and quite a distance back from his Ferrari teammate.

Valtteri Bottas was once again the lead Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber car, finishing in twelfth, ahead of Zhou Guanyu in sixteenth. Bottas has a chance to out qualify his teammate for the thirteenth race in a row. Pierre Gasly was thirteenth, Lance Stroll was less than half a tenth behind in fourteenth.

Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda spent a large part of the session gathering data from their new significant upgrade package – neither driver used DRS on their qualifying runs. Ricciardo ended the hour in fifteenth, while Tsunoda was bottom of the order.

Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant were seventeenth and eighteenth, while Ollie Bearman, who took part in his second Free Practice One of the season finished in nineteenth.

Keep up to date with all the action from the Spanish Grand Prix on our ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) page!

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:14.228		27
2	1	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	1:14.252	+0.024s	27
3	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:14.572	+0.344s	31
4	63	George Russell	MERCEDES	1:14.614	+0.386s	31
5	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	1:14.692	+0.464s	28
6	81	Oscar Piastri	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:14.867	+0.639s	29
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:14.911	+0.683s	28
8	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:15.086	+0.858s	30
9	14	Fernando Alonso	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	1:15.222	+0.994s	26
10	23	Alexander Albon	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:15.417	+1.189s	25
11	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:15.434	+1.206s	26
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	1:15.472	+1.244s	24
13	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPINE RENAULT	1:15.484	+1.256s	21
14	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	1:15.512	+1.284s	28
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB HONDA RBPT	1:15.580	+1.352s	30
16	24	Zhou Guanyu	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	1:15.616	+1.388s	24
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1:15.644	+1.416s	30
18	2	Logan Sargeant	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:15.752	+1.524s	25
19	50	Oliver Bearman	HAAS FERRARI	1:15.865	+1.637s	29
20	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB HONDA RBPT	1:15.916	+1.688s	21

Times and positions accurate via Formula 1 official website.