McLaren
Norris led FP1 on the soft tyre, although he completed his lap slightly later than Verstappen and therefore arguably had better track conditions. But given that he was half a tenth off P1 in FP2, it looks like McLaren will be quick here and could be in contention for pole. Piastri will have to work a little harder to match the pace of his teammate, who was a few tenths behind in both sessions.
Lando Norris – FP1: 1:14.228, P1; FP2: 1:13.319, P3
“A positive day in hot conditions. It was difficult to get the balance right, which I think is the same for everyone, but overall I felt comfortable with the car today.”
“I feel like we’re in good shape, with some things to improve overnight, but not much, and I’m sure we can put ourselves in a good position. It’s very close, as we’ve seen in recent weeks. “So that it’s about the smaller things and trying to put everything together. Tomorrow will be the key.”
Óscar Piastri – FP1: 1:14.867, P6; FP2: 1:13.622, P7
“Friday is over now, a decent day with some areas to clean up, but I think the car looks competitive, which is good. I found a few things in FP2 with my driving and set-up, so it’s about fine-tuning. all in a bit more overnight. There is some work to do before qualifying and as expected it looks very tight at the front so getting the most out of our package tomorrow will be important for the race. Sunday”.
Andrea Stella, team manager
“A useful day of testing in Barcelona. There were no major issues and we completed our run plan which included establishing the correct set-up of the car, which is extremely important here given the demanding nature of the track in terms of grip in these corners long, and hot conditions.
“We have been able to work with the tyres, trying to understand which compounds are best for the race and how to use the soft tire for qualifying. I think we have collected good data, which we will now review overnight.
“Overall, there are no surprises. It looks pretty tight at the front of the field and we can see, as we have been seeing lately, that all the cars seem to be capable of producing fast laps. We will have to stay focused and put in good laps, but “The potential is encouraging and we will try to maximize our performance to score as many points as possible this weekend.”