After a North American appearance last weekend, Formula One is back in Europe for the 53rd running of the Spanish Grand Prix at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit, Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

According to Pirelli: "The track is one of the most complete of any circuit in the world, not just those on the Formula 1 calendar, in terms of the challenges it presents."

Friday saw the first two of three practice sessions with no team really showing any dominance as the top teams seemed evenly mixed.

The afternoon Free Practice Session 2 saw times about a second quicker than the earlier session with Mercedes (Hamilton), Ferarri (Sainz) and McLaren (Norris) topping the time charts. Norris and Sainz were first and third quickest, respectively, in FP1.

"A useful practice day in Barcelona. There were no major issues, and we completed our run plan which included establishing the correct car set-up, which is extremely important here given the demanding nature of the track for grip in these long corners, and hot conditions," said Andrea Stella, McLaren Team Principal.

"We have been able to work on the tyres, trying to understand which compounds are the best for the race, and how to use the Soft tyre for Qualifying. I think we have collected good data, which we will now review overnight," added Stella.

Points leader and three time World Champion Max Verstappen was second quickest in FP1 and fifth quickest in FP2. His teammate, Sergio Perez, was fifth and 13th quickest in the practice sessions.

"Today we just tried a few set ups out there in FP1 and FP2 and we have been trying to fine tune the car a little bit," said Verstappen. "I think the day itself has been positive and a bit more normal without any issues. This is what we have been hoping for, so now it's about tidying things up a little bit more, which is quite normal."

Alpine's Pierre Gasly was fourth quickest in FP2, just 0.179 seconds off the pace.

"Barcelona always provides a stern test for all the parts that go to make up a Formula 1 car and the tyres are no exception to that rule," summarized Simone Berra of Pirelli. "That was the case today, in high temperatures, with the track getting close to the 50 degree mark, which added further stress to the tyres that are already subjected to some of the highest lateral forces of the whole season."

Not surprisingly, Pirelli has chosen its three hardest 2024 dry tyre compounds - C1 as Hard, C2 as Medium and C3 as Soft, for the weekend, the same three selected for the opening round of the year in Bahrain.

FP2 Results Summary: Hamilton, Sainz, Norris, Gasly, Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastri, Russell, Ocon, Bottas, Magnussen, Hulkenberg, Perez, Alonso, Tsunoda, Ricciardo, Zhou, Stroll, Albon, Sargeant

FP1 Results Summary: Norris, Verstappen, Sainz, Russell, Perez, Piastri, Hamilton, Ocon, Alonso, Albon, Leclerc, Bottas, Gasly, Stroll, Ricciardo, Zhou, Magnussen, Sargeant, Bearman, Tsunoda

Spain FP2 Results

Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:13.264	142.194 mph
2	Sainz		Ferrari		1:13.286	0.022
3	Norris		McLaren		1:13.319	0.055
4	Gasly		Alpine		1:13.443	0.179
5	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:13.504	0.240
6	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:13.597	0.333
7	Piastri		McLaren		1:13.622	0.358
8	Russell		Mercedes	1:13.722	0.458
9	Ocon		Alpine		1:13.766	0.502
10	Bottas		Stake		1:13.924	0.660
11	Magnussen	Haas		1:14.021	0.757
12	Hulkenberg	Haas		1:14.053	0.789
13	Perez		Red Bull	1:14.081	0.817
14	Alonso		Aston Martin	1:14.091	0.827
15	Tsunoda		RB		1:14.211	0.947
16	Ricciardo	RB		1:14.257	0.993
17	Zhou		Stake		1:14.345	1.081
18	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:14.402	1.138
19	Albon		Williams	1:14.807	1.543
20	Sargeant	Williams	1:15.070	1.806

Spain FP1 Results

Pos	Driver		Team		Tyre	Time		Gap


1	Norris		McLaren		S	1:14.228	140.347 mph
2	Verstappen	Red Bull	S	1:14.252	0.024
3	Sainz		Ferrari		M	1:14.572	0.344
4	Russell		Mercedes	M	1:14.614	0.386
5	Perez		Red Bull	S	1:14.692	0.464
6	Piastri		McLaren		S	1:14.867	0.639
7	Hamilton	Mercedes	M	1:14.911	0.683
8	Ocon		Alpine		M	1:15.086	0.858
9	Alonso		Aston Martin	S	1:15.222	0.994
10	Albon		Williams	S	1:15.417	1.189
11	Leclerc		Ferrari		M	1:15.434	1.206
12	Bottas		Stake		S	1:15.472	1.244
13	Gasly		Alpine		M	1:15.484	1.256
14	Stroll		Aston Martin	S	1:15.512	1.284
15	Ricciardo	RB		S	1:15.580	1.352
16	Zhou		Stake		S	1:15.616	1.388
17	Magnussen	Haas		S	1:15.644	1.416
18	Sargeant	Williams	S	1:15.752	1.524
19	Bearman		Haas		S	1:15.865	1.637
20	Tsunoda		RB		S	1:15.916	1.688

(image provided by Aston Martin F1 Media)