LECLERC ON PRACTICE IS ASKED

Charles Leclerc led both Spanish Grand Prix Formula One training sessions when Ferrari ran ahead of schedule on the Barcelona-Catalonia track.

The championship leader identified 1m 19.670 s in the second session to become the leader of all comers, after the first time in the 1m 19.828 s table in FP1.

Unexpectedly Mercedes became the second fastest team on the opening day, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton took P2 and P3 respectively.

Russell was just over one-tenth of the pace, and Hamilton was 0.204 seconds slower than Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz ensured that Ferrari and Mercedes held on to the top four, while Max Ferstappen was fifth in speed – the reigning champion 0.336 seconds behind his opponent in the championship.

Fernando Alonso of Alpine was sixth in training at his home Grand Prix, ahead of second-placed Red Bull Sergio Perez.

Perez took part only in the second session, after Yuri Vips was given the opportunity to rule in FP1. Vips was 20^th in FP1.

Updates to the Aston Martin AMR22 proved fruitful for Sebastian Vettel, who scored the P8, ahead of Esteban Ocon and leading Haas with Mick Schumacher.

AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasley struggled with traction problems on the way to 11^th okay, and Magnussen is close to his teammate from Haas at 12^th.

Lance Stroll could not keep up with Vettel’s pace at Aston Martin, eventually getting 13^th ahead of Yuki Tsunoda.

McLaren was nowhere to be seen at the top of the charts, Daniel Ricciardo was sitting 15^th and Landa Norris died last. The latter missed the FP2 period after running on the 9th turn and damaged the floor.

Walter Botas was 16 years old^th after technical problems led to the cancellation of his Alfa Romeo at the beginning of the work, his teammate Zhou Guanyu was right behind at 17^th.

Alex Elbon received a P18 for Williams, 0.878 seconds behind teammate Nicholas Latifi. Elbon left FP1 when Nick De Vries got behind the wheel, the latter took 18th place^th in FP1.

Pole veteran Robert Kubica also competed in FP1, scoring 13 points^th in Alfa Romeo cars.

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