The 24-year-old Leclerc is aiming for the first career victory in Barcelona and third in the season. After five races so far, he is 19 points ahead of Verstappen. Ferrari has brought a number of new parts to Spain, which should speed up their car. Sainz can attack the first ever F1 triumph in front of home fans.
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The Dutch rival Verstappen will try to build on previous wins from the Emilie Romagny and Miami Grand Prix. He last won in Spain in 2016, when he became the youngest F1 winner in history at the age of 18 and 228 days. He holds this record so far.
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The winner of the last five years of the Spanish GP, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, was sixth and third in training. The “Silver Arrows” have hopes before Saturday’s qualifying that they could get closer to the lead after the unsuccessful start of the season.
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In the first training session, some teams were given a chance by backup pilots. Instead of Alexander Albon, he went to Williams Nyck de Vries, in Alfa Romeo was replaced by the Chinese pilot Chou Kuan-yü, an experienced Pole Robert Kubica. Estonian rider Jüri Vips could catch the eye in Red Bull, but he lost to the winning Leclerc over four seconds and finished last. Sergio Pérez returned to the next part and set the seventh time in the afternoon.
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The Spanish Grand Prix program will continue with Saturday’s third practice and subsequent qualification from 16:00 CEST. The race will take place on Sunday from 15:00.
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| Trainings for the Spanish Grand Prix of Formula 1 cars | |
|---|---|
| First training: | |
| 1. Leclerc (Mon./Ferrari) | 1:19,828 |
| 2. Sainz (Sp. / Ferrari) | -0,079 |
| 3. Verstappen (Niz./Red Bull) | -0,336 |
| 4. Russell (Brit./Mercedes) | -0,762 |
| 5. Alonso (Sp. / Alpine) | -0,940 |
| 6. Hamilton (Brit./Mercedes) | -0,983 |
| Second training: | |
| 1. Leclerc | 1:19,670 |
| 2. Russell | -0,117 |
| 3. Hamilton | -0,204 |
| 4. Sainz | -0,320 |
| 5. Verstappen | -0,336 |
| 6. Alonso | -0,533 |
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