Formula 1 and the FIA have announced the dates for 2026 pre-season testing, with three tests set to take place prior to the campaign getting underway.
Test one will be a private test and will take place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya between January 26th – 30th, while test two will be held at the Bahrain International Circuit between February 11th – 13th.
The Bahrain International Circuit also hosts test three from February 18th – 20th, before the season begins in Australia on March 6th – 8th.
It has also been confirmed in a calendar update that, following a request from the Azerbaijan promoter and relevant government stakeholders, Formula 1 and the FIA have agreed to move the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix from Sunday September 27th to Saturday 26th to accommodate a national day.
Maini suffered wheelspin off the line from pole and dropped to fourth while Martins profited to take the lead on the run to the first corner. Ritomo Miyata swept around the outside at Turn 1 to go from fourth to second, ahead of Correa and Maini.
On lap 2 and Maini made a late dive to the inside of Correa at the opening corner to recover one position. Teammate Gabriel Bortoleto followed him through at Turn 4.
In the battle for seventh, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar fought hard early on, though the Campos Racing driver was unable to find a route through on the PREMA Racing talent.
By lap 10, Martins was able to escape from DRS range of Miyata behind and led by 1.5s, while the Japanese driver held a 1.1s advantage over Maini in the podium places.
Antonelli had dropped out of DRS range to Paul Aron ahead and after a long time of trying, Hadjar finally cleared the PREMA driver into Turn 1 on lap 12.
With 10 laps to go, track limits became a problem for Miyata, and the Rodin driver was assigned a five-second penalty for one too many breaches. He earned a second time penalty in his struggle to remain ahead of Maini to bring that total up to 10 second with five laps remaining.
Further back, Hadjar lost seventh to Crawford as both DAMS cars looked to be taking better care of the tyres than those ahead. Correa was pressuring Bortoleto for the final podium place, but the Brazilian was able to fend him off to maintain position.
Onto the penultimate lap and a sizeable lock-up into Turn 5 was evidence of how hard Bortoleto was pushing to keep Correa behind. However, it gave the American a run into Turn 10 and after diving to the inside, he claimed fourth on the road.
Aron was next to clear Bortoleto, rounding the Invicta driver at Turn 3 on the final lap to take P5, as two corners later Crawford followed through to take sixth from him.
The full top 10 are- P1: Martins, P2: Maini, P3: Aron, P4: Crawford, P5: Bortoleto, P6: Hadjar, P7: Miyata, P8: Correa, P9: O’Sullivan and P10: Durksen.
Day 3-
Pole sitter Paul Aron got the perfect launch to lead into Turn 1 ahead of Crawford and Colapinto. Further back, contact sent Victor Martins and Dennis Hauger spinning into the gravel at Turn 2 leaving both out of the race.
Isack Hadjar was the biggest winner, moving up from 11th to fifth in the opening half lap prior to the Safety Car deployed for Hauger and Martins’.
Racing resumed on lap 4 and Aron retained the lead, escaping over a second clear to move out of DRS range to Crawford behind.
Lap 8 and the hard compound runners began to benefit over those on softs, with Joshua Duersken taking fifth from Hadjar into Turn 1. Crawford was in from second at the end of the lap, with Ritomo Miyata and Zak O’Sullivan following the DAMS driver in from inside the top 10.
Gabriel Bortoleto pitted on lap 11 for Invicta Racing, filtering back out in P14 behind Crawford but with warm tyres, O’Sullivan was able to pass him on the outlap to take the position.
Leader Aron was called into the pits and Colapinto followed him in on lap 12. The Hitech rejoined ahead of Crawford but with the DAMS driver on his rear wing. Through turn 3, the American driver took ninth from Aron, while Colapinto retained position over Bortoleto.
Duerksen had been the leader and yet to pit on the alternative strategy but on lap 18, he slowed to a half in the middle sector to bring out another Virtual Safety Car. His stoppage handed the lead over to Juan Manuel Correa, who was also yet to pit.
Racing resumed on lap 20, and Colapinto put Bortoleto under immediate pressure, with the Invicta driver getting his elbows out to keep the place. Just behind them, Aron got the slipstream to take 10th from O’Sullivan at Turn 2. One lap later and Hadjar eased by the ART driver at Turn 1.
With 10 laps to go, Correa pitted from the race lead for the soft compound, filtering back out onto the track in P9 just as Aron made a brave dive on Bortoleto into Turn 1 to take fifth.
As Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Amaury Cordeel pitted, Crawford retook the lead with Colapinto his closest rival for the win 3.6s behind in P2.
Onto lap 34, and Hadjar desposed Bortoelto for fifth while Invicta teammate Kush Maini gained seventh at the expense of Maloney on the run into Turn 1.
The Invicta teammate were nose to tail on the final lap and going wheel-to-wheel into the first corner collided with one another, leaving Bortoleto with front wing damage and Maini ahead in sixth.
The full top 10 are- P1: Crawford, P2: Colapinto, P3: Correa, P4: Aron, P5: Hadjar, P6: Maini, P7: Maloney, P8: Cordeel, P9: Marti and P10: Bortoleto.
It was as you were at the start with Trident’s pole-sitter Santiago Ramos leading teammate Sami Megueounif away with the home favourite Boya in third.
But there was plenty of battling in the midfield with Christian Mansell, Gabriele Mini, Luke Browning and Nikola Tsolov going four-wide down the main straight, with the Australian driver taking 13th ahead of his rivals.
Ramos and Meguetounif were now squabbling for the lead at the start of Lap 3, but the Trident pair then collided at Turn 1. The Frenchman spun off while the former was forced to pit with a puncture.
This promoted Boya into the lead ahead of Dunne and Goethe, but the Safety Car was quickly called upon with Callum Voisin and Nikita Bedrin stopping on track after colliding at the same corner.
The action resumed on lap 7 and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Neol Leon was on the move again. The Mexican driver got past Arvid Lindblad at Turn 5, putting him sixth after starting in P13.
As lap 10 got underway, Dunne was now right on the back of Boya, with Goethe just behind. They had separated themselves from the field as Martinius Stenshorne made the move past Laurens van Hoepen for P4, with Leon later following him through to fifth.
On lap 14 of 21, a DRS train had now been formed from Boya in the lead to Sebastian Montoya in the final points paying position – the Colombian having gone from P27 on the grid to P12.
But it was soon to be bad news for the Campos driver after he made slight contact with Mini at the exit of Turn 4. The Prema driver sustained a puncture causing him to lose control of his car which sent him into Montoya, with both ending up in the gravel and the Safety Car was called upon once again.
However, with so few laps remaining, the Safety Car was withdrawn at the end of the final lap to leave Boya unchallenged to cross the line for his first victory in the championship.
The full top 10 are- P1: Boya, P2: Dunne, P3: Goethe, P4: Stenshorne, P5: Van Hoepen, P6: Leon, P7: Fornaroli, P8: Beganovic, P9: Lindblad and P10: Tramnitz.
Day 3-
It was as you were at the start with Mansell getting a strong launch from pole to lead Lindblad and his ART teammate Nikola Tsolov.
Oliver Goethe though was the one driver to lose out in the early exchanges as he dropped from fifth to eighth, promoting Luke Browning and Leonardo Fornaroli.
Mansell was coming under pressure from Lindblad for the lead and the PREMA Racing driver’s attack finally paid dividends on lap 5 as he went round the outside of Mansell at Turn 1 to take the first position.
Approaching the halfway stage of the race, Mansell was now over a second and a half behind Lindblad, with Browning being told to make the move past the ART driver.
Goethe was able to get past van Hoepen for P6, with the Dutchman now coming under pressure from Martinius Stenshorne.
On lap 17, Lindblad was now well over three seconds clear out front while Mansell had escaped from DRS range of Browning. The Hitech driver was now coming under pressure from Tsolov and Fornaroli as they battle for the final spot on the podium. The Trident driver then made his way past on lap 22, going round the outside of Tsolov at Turn 1.
Fornaroli now set his sights on Browning up ahead, the gap between the pair just a second. Tsolov though was beginning to struggle on his tyres, losing out to Goethe for P6 on the next lap.
Browning and Fornaroli went wheel-to-wheel for P3 on the penultimate lap and further behind, Stenshorne and van Hoepen were doing the same for P7. However, the McLaren junior and ART rookie collided at Turn 4, leaving both with punctures.
On to the final lap and Fornaroli went around the outside of Browning at Turn 2 to take P3, just as heavy rain hit the track.
The full top 10 are- P1: Lindblad, P2: Mansell, P3: Fornaroli, P4: Goethe, P5: Browning, P6: Tsolov, P7: Dunne, P8: Beganovic, P9: Leon and P10: Ramos.
The Spanish Grand Prix is officially over, and it was Max Verstappen who was victorious in Barcelona, after he held off pole-sitter Lando Norris to take his seventh win of the season.
The Red Bull driver first took the lead of the race on lap 3 after the Mercedes of George Russell who started fourth, made the most of his electric start as the lights went out to lead early on.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Norris, P3: Hamilton, P4: Russell, P5: Leclerc, P6: Sainz, P7: Piastri, P8: Perez, P9: Gasly and P10: Ocon.
A lovely result for Max! Another win in the bag for the reigning Champion, he had a bit of a challenge from Norris, not making it easy but the Dutchman knew what he needed to do to secure the win. His teammate, Sergio Perez didn’t have the best of races, starting P11 and he finished P8, not a major improvement, and he will be hoping for better next weekend in Austria.
A decent result for Norris, I know he wanted the win and felt like he should’ve got it but it is racing sometimes, but the team and Norris should be proud of how far they’ve come, especially the past couple of races.
A wonderful result for Mercedes, Hamilton back on the podium! And George in P4, a very good points haul for the team and a great race in general with the pace of the car and how it has improved. I think next for them would be a double podium or a win.
An okay race for the Italian team P5 for Leclerc and P6 for Sainz. The drivers had a bit of a clash in the race, where now they are not agreeing on whose fault it is, which will make debriefs in Maranello a bit awkward. The team will be looking to see what’s going on as they were not really fighting too much with the top 4.
Both Alpine drivers in the points again, not really too much to say on them apart from the fact they’re improving week on week and it is good to see.
A decent drive from Hulkenberg to P11, so close to the points but not close enough, that will be a good point to take away from the race for Haas.
No Aston Martin’s in the points, I don’t think I was surprised to see this, it’s a shame for the team but at this moment in time they are going backwards and not forwards.
Paul Aron started the Barcelona weekend in good form, topping the Free Practice session for Hitech Pulse-Eight. The Estonian set a 1:26.922 to head the pack ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi in the Van Amersfoort Racing car and MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto.
AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen set the initial pace, a 1:27.742 putting him on top early with the majority waiting to venture out onto the circuit.
That was bettered by Ritomo Miyata in the Rodin Motorsport, lowering the time to beat to a 1:27.639. As the clocked ticked to under 30 minutes remaining, the track filled up and the times kept flowing.
Championship leader, Paul Aron was the first to break into the 1:26s, setting the fastest time of 1:26.922 with just over 20 minutes left of the session. Fittipaldi filtered through in second, 0.136s down with Colapinto third for MP.
Qualifying-
Paul Aron continued the way he left free practice, setting the fastest time in Qualifying for his maiden Formula 2 pole position in an incredibly close session.
DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford ended up just 0.002s back in second, with Franco Colapinto third for MP Motorsport, 0.006s behind Aron.
After ending up fastest in practice, Aron set the first time to beat on a 1:25.385. MP teammates Dennis Hauger and Colapinto filed through in second and third places respectively.
The red flag was then thrown after AIX Racing’s Taylor Barnard went off at Turn 9 and into the barriers. He was out of the car and ok, but his car needed recovering.
Running resumed with 23 minutes left on the clock but there were no threats to Aron’s provisional pole time until Isack Hadjar ventured out for his first flying lap. The Frenchman put his Campos at the top of the times, setting a 1:25.205.
PREMA Racing’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli was able to move up to second place, just 0.141s down on Hadjar’s effort.
After a brief spell of quiet in the pitlane, everyone was fitted with fresh soft tyres and took to the track once again with under 10 minutes to go.
Aron was able to find further improvements to retake the top spot with a 1:24.766 before Ritomo Miyata put himself up to P2 for Rodin, 0.182s behind.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Aron, P2: Crawford, P3: Colapinto, P4: Bortoleto, P5: Antonelli, P6: Miyata, P7: Durksen, P8: Correa, P9: Martins and P10: Maini.
Qualifying is done in Barcelona and we now have had four different drivers on pole in the last four races…
McLaren driver, Lando Norris secured the second pole position of his Formula 1 career after coming out on top in an epic battle with rival Max Verstappen.
Norris, who was last on pole at the Sochi Autodrom back in 2021, had trailed Verstappen after the opening Q3 rounds, but produced a stunning final lap of 1m 11.383s to outpace the Dutchman by two hundredths of a second.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Norris, P2: Verstappen, P3: Hamilton, P4: Russell, P5: Leclerc, P6: Sainz, P7: Gasly, P8: Perez, P9: Ocon and P10: Piastri.
What a lovely result from McLaren and Lando Norris! Pole position! So far this weekend they have looked really strong so it’s no surprise seeing them up there. Piastri starts 10th, obviously it’s not the best place for Aussie. He will be wanting to stay out of trouble at the start of the race and make as many moves as possible as he can.
Lovely result for Max, I don’t think there was many complaints from him, his teammate finished 8th in qualifying, however he won’t be starting 8th as he has a three place grid penalty from Canada so will be starting 11th.
A lovely result for both Mercedes! A second row lockout for the team, we saw how they improved last time out in Canada, and it definitely looks like it wasn’t a one-off which is nice to see. Let’s see how well Hamilton and Russell do in the race!
An okay result for Ferrari, it definitely could’ve been better for the Italian team, it will be all to play for in the race, as Leclerc will be looking to bounce back from an awful Canadian Grand Prix. And Carlos Sainz will be wanting a good home grand prix.
A decent result for Alpine! Both cars in the top 10 which is good to see, it seems like the improvements they have made to the car recently has helped a little bit.
Aston Martin are having a bit of trouble at the moment, not the best results for the team lately. Alonso qualified 11th but will be starting 10th and Stroll will be starting 14th…
Martinius Stenshorne led the way at the Barcelona free practice, as the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver completed a lap of 1:28.774 to top the timesheets ahead of Campos Racing’s Oliver Goethe and PREMA Racing’s Gabriele Mini.
After a quiet first half of the 45 minute session, the drivers head out on to the track for their flying laps of the day, and after the first efforts, it was Mini that went fastest.
The Championship leader completed a lap of 1:28.847 to go six-tenths clear at the front ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel Leon in second.
Next to go to the top of the timesheets was Campos’ Goethe, who set a time of 1:28.810, while his teammate Sebastian Montoya moved up to third behind Mini.
While most of the gird came back into the pitlane with 10 minutes left, Hitech Pulse Eight’s trio of drivers stayed out on track. Stenshorne then went quickest with a 1:28.774 while Luke Browning was two-tenths back in fourth as Cian Shields went to P8.
As the session entered into the final five minutes, the red flags were waved with Campos’ Mari Boya in the barrier at Turn 1. The home favourite appeared to suffer an issue on the run down the main straight sending him through the gravel and then into the wall.
Qualifying-
Christian Mansell is set to start Formula 3’s 100th race from Pole Position after he beat PREMA Racing’s Arvid Lindblad to top spot in a dramatic qualifying.
The ART Grand Prix driver set a 1:28.463 on his final attempt in the session to take his maiden Pole in the category, with Lindblad ending up second just 0.036s off the pace, while Mansell’s teammate Nikola Tsolov was third.
After the first set of laps, it was the third ART driver Laurens van Hoepen who went fastest. The Dutchman’s time of 1:29.187 saw him beat Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli to the top spot by less than a tenth.
The drivers then returned to the pitlane and strapped on a second set of Pirelli hard tyres in preparation for the next set of push laps. As they crossed the line to complete the second flying efforts it was Luke Browning that went fastest with a 1:28.888.
On the final runs, the fastest effort changed hands multiple times before Mansell eclipsed Lindblad’s time by just 0.036s with his lap of 1:28.463 giving him his first Formula 3 pole position.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Mansell, P2: Lindblad, P3: Tsolov, P4: Browning, P5: Goethe, P6: Fornaroli, P7: Stenshorne, P8: Van Hoepen, P9: Dunne and P10: Boya.
Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu has confirmed that Oliver Bearman will make his next practice outing with the squad at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, adding to a recent run out in Imola.
Ferrari-backed Bearman is one of the hottest prospects in the paddock at present, having underlined his junior credentials with a starring stand-in performance for Ferrari at this year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
A previous Italian and ADAC F4 Champion, and third-place finisher in F3, the 19 year old Brit is now tackling F2 alongside official F1 reserve driver duties for Ferrari and Haas.
While his current F2 campaign has been a rollercoaster ride so far, leaving him 13th in the standings after five rounds, however Bearman continues to impress when given the opportunity in F1 machinery.
He first appeared in FP1 for Haas at the 2023 Mexican and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix and sampled the VF-24 during the recent Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend.
Bearman, who is set to complete four more FP1 runs with Haas as the season goes on, will replace Nico Hulkenberg for the opening 60 minute session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Haas are yet to confirm either of their two drivers for next season, with Hulkenberg heading to KIck Sauber and Kevin Magnussen attempting to extend his latest stint at the team into what would be a fourth campaign since returning to Haas in 2022.
Thanks to top-10 finishes in Saudi Arabia, Australia and China, Haas sit seventh in the constructors’ standings after nine of this year’s 24 scheduled rounds, 21 points behind RB and two ahead of Alpine.
Of course we are evaluating him. If he is not [under] consideration, we wouldn’t be running him in FP1, and the next time he’s going to be in the car is in Barcelona.
I don’t particularly have a timeframe, it’s more about getting the right driver for our team. We are still a pretty small team. To have somebody experienced, somebody who’s got a really good work ethic, to integrate with the team well and really push the team forward… that’s what we’re looking for, so we’re talking with several different drivers. Komatsu on the drivers market and Ollie Bearman.
Reverse pole sitter, O’Sullivan instantly defended the inside line, giving compatriot Browning a slip stream down into Tyrn 1. Despite that, Browning had to yield to his fellow Williams junior on the exit of Turn 2.
A fast starting Paul Aron rocketed up from P8 to P5 by the time the Safety Car was deployed at the end of the opening lap after Rodin Carlin’s Ido Cohen found the barriers at Turn 9.
Racing resumed on Lap 5 and O’Sullivan bolted away early through Turn 12, allowing him to pull clear from Browning. After qualifying down in P18, Gabriele Mini was on the charge, the Alpine junior was brave on the brakes, diving past Christian Mansell through Turn 7 for 12th.
Running in P4, Saucy ran wide out of the final corner, opening the door for Aron to get through. Unable to fight back out of Turn 1, the ART Grand Prix driver was left vulnerable to those behind and lost places to both Sebastian Montoya and Gabriel Bortoleto, dropping to seventh.
Mini and Mansell’s earlier battle reignited on Lap 16, but this time the pair made contact. It sent Mansell spinning off at Turn 2 to bring out a second Safety Car. Mini was then awarded a 10 second time penalty for the collision.
The full top 10 are- P1: O’Sullivan, P2: Browning, P3: Fornaroli, P4: Bortoleto, P5: Aron, P6: Colapinto, P7: Boya, P8: Marti, P9: Saucy and P10: Barnard.
Day 3-
Despite getting a strong launch from pole, Marti was forced to immediately dive to the inside to cover off Taylor Barnard. Making an impression on his first front row start and benefiting from the slip stream.
After scoring his maiden podium in the Sprint Race, Luke Browning’s race came to an early end on the opening lap. Contact with Leonardo Fornaroli down into Turn 4 left the Hitech Pulse-Eight pulling up with broken suspension to bring out the Safety Car.
Marti opten to make the jump early on Lap 7, trying to pull away from Barnard through Turn 12. The Briton was all over the Campos just after the restart but couldn’t sustain the pace and dropped out of DRS range by lap 10.
In the battle for the final points, Sprint Race winner Zak O’Sullivan made an ambitious overtake attempt on Oliver Goethe around the outside of Turn 13. It put the pair three-wide with Gregoire Saucy on the start of lap 19.
The full top 10 are- P1: Marti, P2: Colapinto, P3: Beganovic, P4: Bortoleto, P5: Aron, P6: Boya, P7: Montoya, P8: O’Sullivan, P9: Barnard and P10: Mansell.
Unfortunately Formula 3 is not back until July… we will be returning for Round 6 in Spielberg, Austria on the 30th June to 2nd July.
Round 8 is now complete, where we had quite a civilised race with no safety cars/ yellow flags or red flags and no retirements again!
Max Verstappen was victorious once again, as he controlled the race from lights out to the chequered flag making it his fifth win of the season. He led home the Mercedes of both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell making it their first double podium of the season.
The full top 10 are: P1: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Russell, P4: Perez, P5: Sainz, P6: Stroll, P7: Alonso, P8: Ocon, P9: Zhou and P10: Gasly.
A great drive from both Sergio Perez and George Russell, both starting from outside the top 10. Damage limitation that drive was and a good haul of points for both drivers.
Not a good race for Leclerc, just an overall bad weekend for the Monegasque. Finishing 11th after starting 19th, which is a good move up but no points aren’t good, so hopefully he will have some good luck soon.
Two points for Guanyu Zhou, which is fully deserved. He had a good race, some nice overtakes and his rewarded by getting points.
Now, lets move on to Yuki Tsunoda, he was having a good race running in the points, making a few moves… And then it all went wrong, he got a 5 second time penalty for forcing Guanyu Zhou off track when he was overtaking. This dropped Yuki out of the points and finished 12th.
With Round 8 now complete, we have to wait a little while till the next race, where we head to Canada for Round 9 on the 16th June to 18th June.
What a qualifying session, we have a very mixed up grid for the race but that’s what will make it all more exciting seeing a few driver’s battle their way through the field.
Max Verstappen took his first pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix by comfortably getting the better of Ferrari rival Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
The full top 10 are: P1: Verstappen, P2: Sainz, P3: Norris, P4: Gasly, P5: Hamilton, P6: Stroll, P7: Ocon, P8: Hulkenberg, P9: Alonso and P10: Piastri.
Some bad news for Alpine, as Pierre Gasly may have qualified 4th but he won’t be starting 4th… He impeded both Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz where he was given 3 place grid penalty, twice, so he will be starting the race in 10th.
Now looking a little further down the grid… Charles Leclerc is starting 19th as he dropped out of Q1 due to car complaints.
Sergio Perez was another shock, as he got knocked out of Q2 due to taking a trip through the gravel, so he is due to start just outside the top 10 in 11th.
We also have George Russell who is outside of the top 10, starting just behind Sergio Perez in 12th. During Q2 he had a bizarre incident with his teammate Lewis Hamilton, with the latter progressing on into the top 10.
Predictions-
My top five predictions are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Sainz, P3: Hamilton, P4: Ocon, P5: Alonso.
I think the top five for tomorrow’s race will be mixed depending if there will be any safety cars/ red flags and who will optimise on others down fall.
Frederik Vesti started the Barcelona weekend where he left off in Monte Carlo, ending the opening session of the weekend P1 for PREMA.
The Dane set a 1:26.722 to lead from Oliver Bearman, as the Italian team looked comfortable around the circuit. Jehan Daruvala was third for MP Motorsport, 0.3s down on Vesti’s session topping effort.
A red flag was thrown with just over 20 minutes to go following a spin for Victor Martins coming out of Turn 10. The ART Grand Prix driver lost the back end of the car and couldn’t get going again.
Enzo Fittipaldi made a late improvement to jump up into third position until he lost his time for exceeding track limits, his next lap put him into the top five.
Qualifying-
Oliver Bearman denied Enzo Fittipaldi pole position by just 0.077s with a 1:23.546 in the final moments of Qualifying. The Rodin Carlin provisionally held the top spot until the PREMA Racing driver’s late effort was just good enough to beat the Brazilian. Jack Doohan will be hoping to realign his season, going from P3 on the feature race.
Victor Martins led the field out of the pitlane as the light went green to get Qualifying underway. The Frenchman set the initial benchmark but that was swift beaten by those behind.
PREMA Racing opted to run both of their drivers in the gap after the first efforts were complete, joined on track by only the MP Motorsport drivers. Hauger took the sport with a 1:23.923 while Jehan Daruvala lifted himself up to third.
With 10 minutes left, the next flurry of laptimes arrived and it was Theo Pourchaire who went to the top of the times. That was until Enzo Fittipaldi set a 1:23.623 to put himself P1 once again.
The full top 10 are: P1: Bearman, P2: Fittipaldi, P3: Doohan, P4: Iwasa, P5: Pourchaire, P6: Hauger, P7: Martins, P8: Vesti, P9: Crawford and P10: Amaury Cordeel.
Taylor Barnard took the top spot in Free Practice in Barcelona. After most opted to remain in the pitlane early on, the Jenzer Motorsport driver set a 1:28.831 to lead the way before a late red flag disrupted his rivals attempts to improve.
With only a third of the running remaining, representative times began to be set. Luke Browning got his first attempt on the board with a 1:30.181, which was immediately bettered by teammate Sebastian Montoya with a 1:29.241.
Barnard then put Jenzer Motorsport to the top of the timing sheets, breaking into the 1:28s to lead Caio Collet by 0.020s and edge a tenth ahead of fellow rookie Dino Beganovic.
Turn 9’s fast nature proved to be a challenging point for several drivers. Piotr Wisnicki was the first Red Flag of the weekend, spinning off into the gravel at the top of the hill.
Qualifying-
Josep Maria Marti gave the Spanish fans plenty to celebrate already this weekend as he secured his maiden Formula 3 pole position on home soil.
The Campos Racing driver’s 1:27.587 beat Jenzer Motorsport’s Taylor Barnard and Franco Colapinto from MP Motorsport by two and a half tenths.
Keeping things neat and tidy, Leonardo Fornaroli briefly bagged the fastest lap, but Paul Aron quickly shot up into P1 with a 1:28.369 going over a tenth quicker than the Trident driver.
With banker laps in the bag, drivers peeled into pits to change on to a fresh set of hard tyres and returned to the track with 18 minutes remaining.
The full top 10 are: P1: Marti, P2: Barnard, P3: Colapinto, P4: Beganovic, P5: Aron, P6: Bortoleto, P7: Montoya, P8: Boya, P9: Fornaroli and P10: Saucy.
It’s race week once again! And this time were at the Spanish Grand Prix for Round 8, the home Grand Prix of Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz.
Will Mercedes upgrades really show what their made of this weekend or will it be another RB dominated weekend?
Can Fernando Alonso get that win he keeps talking about at his home race? And can Sergio Perez make up for what he did last time out this weekend?
Who needs to shine?
The Ferrari boys need a good weekend, yes they were in the points last weekend at the Monaco GP but they need to work as a team if they want to be further up in the drivers/constructors championship.
McLaren will be wanting to do better, especially now Alpine have a podium under there belt and means the gap between them and McLaren is now bigger…
Lance Stroll will be needing a better weekend, a DNF in Monaco, Miami scored no points as he finished in 12th and then looking back to the second race it was a DNF in Saudi Arabia too. With Alonso qualifying on the front row and finishing on the podium, he ideally needs his teammate there with him so they can make an impact on the Championship standings.
Predictions for Qualifying-
My top five for qualifying are- Pole: Verstappen, P2: Alonso, P3: Perez, P4: Hamilton, P5: Russell.
I don’t think it will be a mixed up qualifying session, only if someone crashes which means there out of Q1 or if someone gets knocked out of Q1, but I find that hard to believe.
The tyres have been chosen for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.
The teams will have the C1 (Hard), C2 (Medium), C3 (Soft) at their disposal in Barcelona.
The Montmelo track has undergone a major modification this year. The final chicane, Turns 14 and 15 that was introduced in 2007 has now been removed, with the track reverting to its original configuration.
This key change to the final sector will make it more flowing and less severe for the tyres in terms of traction. The left-handed corners are mainly taken at low speed, while the right-handers tend to be flat out.
Last year, Red Bull’s race winner Max Verstappen used a three-stop strategy like most of his rivals, alternating between soft and medium. With the introduction of the new hard tyre, this now adds another strategic factor into the mix.
Traditionally, Barcelona has been one of the most popular venues for testing: both for cars and tyres. It’s a complete track, featuring several different types of speeds and corners, and it also has a very long straight. As a result, aerodynamic efficiency is key to being competitive. The final sector has been modified for this year, reverting to the original layout without a final chicane. This makes it a much more flowing track now and also adds to the entry speed onto the main straight. There are two corners, Turn 3 and Turn 9, which are particularly demanding in terms of lateral forces exerted on the tyres. We’ve chosen the same three types of tyre as the season-opener in Bahrain, but it’s important to remember, when comparing to last year, that this year’s C1 is an entirely new compound, specifically designed to bridge the gap between the hardest tyre in the range (now called the C0) and the C2. In theory, this should hand the teams a wider range of strategic choices, given that the hardest available compound last year wasn’t used at all in the race. Another novelty is the chance that the drivers will have during the first two free practice sessions to try out two additional sets of hard tyres that feature the new construction that will be used from the British Grand Prix onwards. Apart from the use of some new material, which has already been homologated following an extensive test programme, the latest specification is identical to the previous version. Initially this was scheduled for 2024, but its introduction has now been brought forward to make the structure more resistant to fatigue, as the loads generated by the current cars have already reached the targets set for the end of the season after only a few races. This new construction has no impact though on the technical parameters or performance of the tyres. We also continue our 2024 testing campaign after the race, with Mercedes and Ferrari running over two days as we develop the compounds and constructions for next year.
Spanish Grand Prix venue, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will feature a revised configuration for this year’s race – the eighth round of the championship.
Furthermore, the track will feature new safety features and renovated paddock facilities.
The circuit just outside Barcelona, first hosted the Spanish Grand Prix in 1991 – where Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell went wheel to wheel for championship glory – and has undergone several changes since.
In 2007, a chicane was introduced before the final corner in Barcelona but this year, the chicane (currently Turns 14 – 15) will be removed to return the section to its original layout.
New TECPRO barriers will be introduced in the last two high speed corners and the official length of the track for the Spanish Grand Prix will be 4.657 kilometres which is 18 metres shorter than the previous track.
The Spanish track will also make other changes, with a widening of the run-off area in Turn 1, including 70 more metres of gravel plus a slope of 5% and a new fence protecting Turns 1 and 2 to improve the safety of the drivers.
The scoreboard at the pitlane exit will be remodelled for 2023, including a more modern signalling tower.
WOW! A chaotic race in Spain, saw us with a new championship leader… A race which is normally a two stop turned into a 3 stop, and there was a risk of a 4 stop also.
Max Verstappen WINS the Spanish GP, he now moves into the lead of the Championship, his teammate comes home to make it a 1-2, with team orders taking a play which Perez wasn’t very happy about… But the final podium spot goes to George Russell, the new minister of defence!
The full top 10 are: P1: Verstappen, P2: Perez, P3: Russell, P4: Sainz, P5: Hamilton, P6: Bottas, P7: Ocon, P8: Norris, P9: Alonso and P10: Tsunoda.
A mixed day for Ferrari, Carlos spun and went into the gravel trap earlier on, which saw him drop down out of the top 10. But Leclerc looked like he wrapped up the race from early on, but it never stays that way in F1, as he lost power which saw his race come to an end as he retired in the pits.
A great day for the Mercedes team, especially Lewis, he had contact on the first lap which saw him drop down to the bottom and then pit for new tyres as he had a slow puncture, he then fought his way up to the top five! Mr George Russell aswell, round of applause for him, mostly fought the Red Bulls today and held of Max for a long time! Safe to say the Mercedes upgrades have worked.
What a drive from Fernando Alonso, started P20 and finished in P9, great damage limitation from him. And his teammate finishing in P7, a good points haul for Alpine.
A mixed day again for Alfa Romeo, mechanical issues again for Guanyu Zhou, his race ending earlier than usual, but for VB a big points haul in P6.
The Championship-
Max, now leads the championship by 6 points! Everybody in the top 10, apart from Max and Charles, have stayed in the same position. Perez now has 85 points in third, Russell sat behind him in 74 points, and Carlos Sainz has 65 points and he rounds out the top 5.
Red Bull lead the Constructors, with 195 points and Ferrari are in 2nd with 169 points. Mercedes sit comfortably in third with 120 points a 70 point gap between them and McLaren who are in 4th. Alfa Romeo are in fifth with 39 points, slowly catching the papaya tomorrow.
We will be back next week for the second race of our double header, Round 7 in Monaco, the home Grand Prix of Charles Leclerc.
Felipe Drugovich made up for the post-qualifying penalty by winning the Sprint Race. Demoted to fourth on the grid, he seized the lead at Turn 1.
The MP Motorsport driver led every lap from that point and victory moved him to the top of Formula 2 Drivers Championship. Ayumu Iwasa and Logan Sargeant were able to secure their maiden F2 podiums, finishing second and third.
The Sprint Race was not good for Juri Vips, as he spun at Turn 4 in which he beached himself in the grave and it saw the Safety Car come out.
The full top 10 are: P1: Drugovich, P2: Iwasa, P3: Sargeant, P4: Daruvala, P5: Pourchaire, P6: Doohan, P7: Vesti, P8: Fittipaldi, P9: Lawson and P10: Armstrong.
Day 3-
Felipe Drugovich, made it two wins from two in Barcelona, winning the Feature Race after his Sprint Race success on Saturday. The MP Motorsport driver made it look simple from 10th on the grid, extending his stint on the soft tyres longer than anyone else before catching and passing Jack Doohan for the win.
The Virtuosi Racing driver did everything right, but his early pit stop left him on tyres five laps older than the Brazilian’s. His first podium of the 2022 F2 season will offer some comfort heading into Monaco. Frederik Vesti made his best F2 qualifying result count and the ART Grand Prix driver completed the podium.
The full top 10 are: P1: Drugovich, P2: Doohan, P3:Vesti, P4: Sargeant, P5: Novalak, P6: Fittipaldi, P7: Armstrong, P8: Pourchaire, P9: Lawson and P10: Nissany.
The Championship-
Drugovich’s dominance in Barcelona has helped him into a 26 point lead, as Pourchaire remains second with an okay weekend. Daruvala is narrowly ahead of Lawson and Armstrong who moved himself up into the top five.
MP Motorsport made the tyres work fo rboth drivers, which has extended their points tally at the top of the Teams’ Standings to 108 points. ART remain in second with 85 and Carlin sit in third with 73 points.
We don’t have long to wait till the next round, as we are back next week for Round 5, in Monaco!
Campos Racing’s David Vidales, held his nerve to achieve his first victory in Formula 3 at both his and his team’s home race. The rookie coped under pressure from the start, getting a strong start from reverse-grid pole and managed to keep a charging Jak Crawford back, the PREMA driver had to settle for second.
Meanwhile, there was a battle behind the top 2, for the final podium spot as Juan Manuel Correa fought hard on his return to F3 after an injury. However the ART driver’s tyres faded and he was overtaken by Caio Collet and Arthur Leclerc, to finish fifth.
The full top 10 are: P1: Vidales, P2: Crawford, P3: Collet, P4: Leclerc, P5: Correa, P6: Smolyar, P7: Frederick, P8: Stanek, P9: Ushijima and P10: Hadjar.
Day 3-
Victor Martins put the disappointment of an early retirement in the Sprint Race behind him, after putting on a dominant display to secure his second win of the Formula 3 season. The ART Grand Prix driver, seized the lead into the opening corner and didn’t look back even with controlling the pace during two Safety Car restarts.
Pole-sitter, Roman Stanek, put up a strong defence to keep Isack Hadjar at bay for second.
The full top 10 are- P1: Martins, P2: Stanek, P3: Hadjar, P4: Smolyar, P5: Bearman, P6: Crawford, P7: Collet, P8: Colapinto, P9: Frederick and P10: Correa.
The Championship-
Victory promotes Victor Martins back into the lead of the Drivers’ Championship. Another solid weekend of results, moves Roman Stanek up into second, six points clear of Red Bull junior Jak Crawford. Isack Hadjar is in fourth, and Arthur Leclerc rounds out the top five.
PREMA Racing, retain their hold at the top of the Teams’ Championship on 120 points, ART Grand Prix remain second ahead of Trident. Hitech Grand Prix are fourth and MP Motorsport sit in fifth.
Formula 3 will be back in July, and we will have 3 rounds across the month, but the first round is Silverstone on the 1st to 3rd.
What a qualifying we have just witnessed, from a Ferrari spinning, to a home town hero being knocked out in Q1, a lap time deleted which promoted a Haas into Q3 and a Red Bull loosing power on the final flying lap!
But, it was Charles Leclerc who took pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix, with a spin on his first flying lap in Q3 he only had the chance to do one lap which he made count, we then have Max Verstappen joining him on the front row, as he wasn’t able to improve his final lap as he lost power before he even started it. Carlos Sainz makes it a 1-3 for Ferrari on his home turf, hoping to get the jump on the Red Bull at the start of the race.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Leclerc, P2: Verstappen, P3: Sainz, P4: Russell, P5: Perez, P6: Hamilton, P7: Bottas, P8: Magnussen, P9: Ricciardo and P10: Schumacher.
A big well done to Haas, not only have they got both cars into Q3, but they had to take apart Micks cars in FP3 due to a fire, and they managed to get it ready for qualifying! Big day tomorrow for both cars, as they have brought no upgrades and will be hoping both cars can score points.
McLaren, mixed day for the Woking based team, good to see Danny Ric starting in the top 10, hopefully with the right strategy he can score a good amount of points, but for Lando, he got into the top 10 for Q3, but got his laptime deleted which sees him start P11. Which is not that bad considering his just outside the top 10, he will be hoping to stay out of trouble at the start tomorrow.
Not the day for Fernando Alonso, and Alpine as a whole, we didn’t really see that pace their like we have done in recent rounds. The Spaniard is starting 17th, a lot of work to do at a track where overtaking isn’t major.
A good day for Bottas, in the top 10 once again, he will be hoping to score points in tomorrows race. His teammate, Guanyu Zhou starts P15.
Predictions-
My top five are- P1: Leclerc, P2: Sainz, P3: Verstappen, P4: Hamilton and P5: Russell. If Leclerc and Sainz can look after their tyres in the race and the Ferrari team perfect the strategy and pit stops then I don’t see why they won’t get a double podium.
Bottas, Magnussen and Ricciardo could all be battling for that 6th position in the race, if things go their way and they stay out of trouble in the opening laps.
Round 4 for Formula 2 this weekend, lets take a look at how the first day went.
Free Practice-
Felipe Drugovich led the way in free practice after multiple red flag stoppages. The MP Motorsport driver, was almost a full half-second clear of the pack, with Jehan Daruvala and Logan Sargeant his closest challengers.
Olli Caldwell and Marcus Armstrong both brought out the red flags during the session, with the Campos Racing driver spinning and hitting the wall at Turn 9. Meanwhile Armstrong became beached in the gravel at Turn 4 as drivers struggled for grip.
The full top 10 are- P1: Drugovich, P2: Daruvala, P3: Sargeant, P4: Doohan, P5: Lawson, P6: Vips, P7: Iwasa, P8: Pourchaire, P9: Hauger and P10: Williams.
Qualifying-
Before we start looking at the qualifying result, Ralph Boschung has withdrawn from this weekend as he is suffering from neck pain and wasn’t able to continue after the practice session.
Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan, left it last minute as he stormed to his second pole position in Formula 2, the Aussie managed to hold off an extremely late charge from HiTech’s Juri Vips which saw the Estonian driver leap up from last to second and ahead of ART’s Frederik Vesti in third.
The full top 10 are- P1: Doohan, P2: Vips, P3: Vesti, P4: Daruvala, P5: Sargeant, P6: Iwasa, P7: Pourchaire, P8: Hughes, P9: Williams and P10: Drugovich.
Drugovich was meant to be starting on pole position for today’s sprint race but, he has a 3 place grid penalty for impeding Theo Pourchaire, so he now will be starting 4th. That promotes Calan Williams to pole position and Jake Hughes onto the front row.
We are back at Barcelona for Round 3 of the Formula 3 2022 Championship, lets take a look at how the first day has gone.
Free Practice-
For the second round in a row, ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martin set the pace during practice, clocking in a 1:32.196. With the cooler early morning temperatures, it was somewhat leisurely start to running as the 30 car field, turned their focus towards the end of the session.
Initially, the Carlin trio led the way with the Williams Racing Academy driver, Zak O’Sullivan setting a benchmark of 1:35.420. 15 minutes in and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Reece Ushijima leaped to the top of the timesheets, becoming the first driver to break the 1:34s barrier.
Title contenders Arthur Leclerc and Victor Martins were nip and tuck on track with less than a tenth between them. The PREMA Racing driver went quickest, only for Championship leader Victor Martins to go 0.076s quicker.
Martins ended the session fastest, ahead of Leclerc. Stanek slotted into third, just over half a second behind the leading time. Jak Crawford was fourth ahead of Imola Sprint Race winner Franco Colapinto and pole-sitter last time out Maloney. Oliver Bearman made it three PREMAs inside the top seven ahead of Kaylen Frederick.
Qualifying-
Roman Stanek left it late but secured himself pole position ahead of Victor Martins. The Trident driver had made an early error in the session but rebounded brilliantly to take pole position in the final moments of the day.
Alex Smolyar followed ahead of Isack Hadjar and Arthur Leclerc, who will have to make up places to fight with his championship rivals ahead. Meanwhile Juan Manuel Correa made it inside the top 10 on his return.
The full top 10 are: P1: Stanek, P2: Martins, P3: Smolyar, P4: Hadjar, P5: Leclerc, P6: Bearman, P7: Collet, P8L Frederick, P9: Crawford and P10: Correa.
It is race week once again, but this time it’s the start of a double header! We are in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix which is Round 6 out of 22. It is also the home grand prix of Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso!
The drivers have a lot of knowledge of this track with it being one of the test tracks but how will the new cars/tyres and upgrades fair here? It is all to play for once again…
Who needs a good weekend?
Daniel Ricciardo, plain and simple, seems like since Australia his not that comfortable int he car compared to Lando, if McLaren are bringing upgrades this weekend could be his turning point and get a better grip of the car.
The Haas pair, I feel like I haven’t spoke about them together yet… But last time out in Imola it looked like they were both set for points but it didn’t end that way. So both drivers will be wanting to get points on the board this weekend and give the team a good result.
Alpha Tauri, need a good weekend not just for one driver either, they need it as a team. Last time we was racing, Pierre Gasly had the incident with Lando Norris so scored no points and Yuki finished just outside the points also too.
Predictions for qualifying-
My top 5 are: Pole: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Sainz, P4: Perez and P5: Norris. We all know the battle for pole is going to be between Ferrari and Red Bull, but Ferrari are bringing big upgrades to this weekend grand prix.
But the battle for 4th/ 5th and 6th will be the most interesting though, as McLaren are said to brought upgrades as well as Mercedes and Alfa Romeo have a strong car. McLaren and Mercedes will be hoping to get both their drivers in the top 10.
Red Bull junior driver, Juri Vips will be making his Formula 1 race debut when he steps into the cockpit of the RB18 for the first practice session at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.
The Estonian driver will be behind the wheel of Sergio Perez’s car at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Vips, who currently competes in Formula 2 and is sat in eighth in the championship has been apart of the Red Bull Junior Team since 2018, and previously drove an F1 car at last year’s post season test in Abu Dhabi.
The opportunity for Vips is Red Bull fulfilling one of their two mandated young driver sessions for the year.
My Opinion-
Ahh Juri! I love this new rule, it gives young drivers the opportunity to get a handle on an F1 car in a free practice session. I could see Juri being a contender for an F1 seat next year, he has said before that Red Bull haven’t said he needs to win the F2 championship, just show you want it, so it will definitely be interesting to see how he does!
I imagine as Juri is in the Red Bull, we will see Liam Lawson in the Alpha Tauri for the FP1 outing.
Lirim Zendeli will be returning to the Formula 3 Championship this weekend, as he replaces David Schumacher with Charouz Racing System.
Schumacher himself replaced Ayrton Simmons in the Barcelona test and second round at Imola, but this weekend he has other commitments as he races in DTM for Mercedes-AMG Team Winward.
Zendeli is no stranger to the team as he has taken the ADAC Formula 4 title with the Czech team, they then stepped up together to FIA F3 under the Sauber Junior team by Charouz in 2019.
After moving to Trident for the 2020 season, the German driver scored his only victory in the category in the feature race at Spa-Francorchamps.
Zendeli then went on to Formula 2 last year, but it fell short due to a lack of budget, he has not raced since Sochi.
I’m really happy to be back and drive again. We have to be realistic, I haven’t been in a car for ten months and it will not be easy having only have 45 minutes of practice before quali, but I’ll do my best and try to help the team as much as possible.You can never leave out some surprises but let’s focus on the weekend and get the best possible result.
We are back in Europe this week, as we head to Spain for Round 6 for the F1 season. We also have Formula 2 and 3, joining us this weekend to carry on their season.
Pirelli has decided to bring the hardest tyres in the 2022 range, C1 (Hard), C2 (Medium), C3 (Soft). It’s a pretty straight forward choice, which is the same as last year albeit using a brand-new family of tyres.
The teams were at Barcelona as recently as February, for pre-season testing, however there are three big differences to consider since last being there:
The teams concentrated on testing compounds in the middle of the range, rather than the hard.
The weather conditions were much cooler.
The new cars were in their most basic launch specification, the cars have since moved on considerably since then.
With the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya being a very well-used circuit, there will not be much track evolution expected over the weekend, thanks to a busy schedule of support races also.
Last years winning strategy was a two stopper, the traditional approach to Barcelona, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton triumphing a pole to a win using a soft-medium-medium strategy. Soft-medium-soft was used by all the finishers from P2 to P8.
It’s hard to say much about Barcelona that hasn’t been said already, as it’s possibly the best-known circuit on the calendar for the drivers, with its wide-ranging layout making it a perfect testing venue. It has a bit of everything, with the very technical final sector being particularly important when it comes to looking after the tyres. As a result, the teams will have a good opportunity to assess the progress they have made with their cars since the start of the season, although the weather conditions will be much warmer and there will probably be a lot more running on the hard tyre than there was in testing, which will perhaps be the key to the race. In the past, Barcelona has traditionally been a two-stopper, so it will be interesting to see if the new generation of tyres this year leads anyone to target a one-stopper.
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director.
Formula 2
The Hard and Soft tyres have been nominated for Round 4 in Spain. This is the same nomination as the championship’s last raced at the circuit in 2020, and one which has already been seen this year at Bahrain and at the in-season test in Barcelona last month.
Formula 3
The Hard tyre is nominated for the third round of the season. Drivers will have three sets of the hard compound plus one set of Medium tyres which are carried over from the previous round in Imola, these are to be used in free practice only.
The Barcelona circuit is well-known to the #Fit4F1 teams from testing and previous races. A wide-ranging layout also demands the hardest compounds in the range!
Mercedes reserve driver, Nyck de Vries will be making his Formula 1 race weekend debut, this weekend in Spain as he carries out driving duties for Williams in the first practice session.
The reigning Formula E World Champion, will be borrowing Alex Albon’s FW44 for the 60 minute session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
De Vries, shares the Mercedes reserve role with Stoffel Vandoorne, who is also his teammate in Formula E for Mercedes EQ. The Dutchman previously tested F1 machinery when he drove the Silver Arrows in last year’s post-season Abu Dhabi Grand Prix test.
His appearance for Williams fulfils one of the British team’s two mandated young driver sessions, which is a new rule introduced for this season.
We are looking forward to having Nyck de Vries in the car for FP1 as it is always good to work with a new driver and get a fresh opinion on the car’s strengths and weaknesses. Nyck’s experience and professionalism will be crucial on Friday as he will complete some of the key engineering tests in FP1 before he hands the car back to Alex for FP2.
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams.
Firstly, I’d really like to thank Williams for the opportunity to run in FP1. It’s great for me to get to know the team and drive the FW44, and also to get myself out on track during a Formula 1 weekend. Preparation for the test is going well so far and the team have been incredibly supportive of me. I’m very much looking forward to the whole experience in Spain now.
Nyck de Vries, on the FP1 session for Williams.
My Opinion-
Well, one of the teams had to take the bullet and go first… All jokes aside, I’m glad that Nyck is getting a chance, he definitely deserves a seat in F1 and maybe this is his chance to get out there and impress Williams or maybe some other teams?
Nyck has been rumoured to the Williams seat, not just last year but also this year, all eyes onto Friday now to see how he does!
The past few days, Formula 3 have been testing in Barcelona at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for their second and final in season test of the year. Formula 2 had spent three days laying down rubber in mostly cold conditions before F3 hit the track on Friday.
Day 1-
David Schumacher had arrived as a late replacement for Ayrton Simmons for Charouz, the German driver needed a seat fitting before getting out onto track, he managed eight laps towards the end of the session as he looked to get back up to speed with F3 machinery.
When the laps started flowing, Zane Maloney set the benchmark at 1:33.926 before his teammate, Stanek broke the 1m 33s barrier with a 1:32.678. Isack Hadjar was one of two stoppages, with the driver coming to a stop at Turn 2 in the middle of the session. ART Grand Prix’s Matteo Nannini was the other, stopping at Turn 10.
In between the two red flag, Nannini’s teammate Saucy set the quickest time of the morning, with a 1:32.247. Colapinto completed the most mileage in the morning with 49 laps in total.
Onto the afternoon session, all 30 drivers made a swift exit from the pitlane when the light went green and got stuck into the long runs. MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet set the benchmark at 1:34.465, before it was replaced by Hadjar at the midway point.
Smolyar dropped a 1:33.342 to steal the top spot of Collet again pushing him to second, Stanek put in a late lap of a 1:33.642. It was Franco Colapinto who completed the most laps in the afternoon session, adding 54 to his 49 he already done in the morning.
It was a busy final morning, as many of the drivers got stuck into some qualifying simulations. Gregoire Saucy set the marker at 1:32.109 for ART GP. Collet then drooped a 1:31.507 to put himself top of the standings.
Coalpinto’s one lap speed was shown once again, as the Round 1 pole sitter made the top three for the second day in a row. The Argentine was the busiest man for the third session in a row adding a further 51 laps to his tally from Day 1.
HiTech’s rookie, Isack Hadjar was another one impressing as his short run speed put him up to 4th and just over three tenths off P1. Tridents, Roman Stanek completed the top five.
The field dedicated the afternoons running to race simulations, with Jenzer heading out as soon as the lights went green. Alatalo set the benchmark at 1:34.488 before they were joined by the ever-busy Van Amersfoort Racing trio. When the remainder of the grid left the pits to head out on track, Marti jumped to second for Campos.
Villagomez, ended the afternoon session with the highest lap count, completing 58 tours of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. He also spent the majority of the session in third but was bumped down to fourth by Ferrari junior Leclerc, who couldn’t quite beat the 1m 35s barrier.
Formula 3 doesn’t have to wait long till there back on track, as Round 2 starts in Imola on Friday the 22nd of April.
Formula 2 was back on track this week for their in-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Let’s take a look at how it went.
Day 1-
The first session of testing, saw a sprinkling of rain and a track temp of just 14 degrees, running was reduced on a quiet opening morning of testing, with only two drivers posting more than 30 laps. Championship leader, Drugovich picked up from where he left off at Round 2, with the Brazilian jumping to the top of the time sheets.
There were three stoppages during the morning, including Calan Williams who spun to a stop at Turn 2. Lawson’s Carlin came to a halt at Turn 10, before Cem Bolukbasi lost control of his Charouz at Turn 9 and went into the barrier.
The track temperature marginally increased in the afternoon, and this meant the grid was able to offer up a few push laps on the back of their race runs. After a benchmark time of 1:29.897 from Armstrong during the long-running, Boschung fired to the top of the field, dropping a 1:27.929.
There were two more Red Flags in the afternoon, firstly for Vips who clipped the barriers at Turn 3 and then later for Logan Sargeant whose Carlin came to a halt on the track at Turn 1. Despite the stoppages, there was significantly more running in the afternoon. Boschung and Williams completed the joint-most laps with 55 each.
Position
Driver
Team
Laptime
1
Ralph Boschung
Campos Racing
1:27.929
2
Marcus Armstrong
HiTech Grand Prix
1:28.170
3
Ayumu Iwasa
Dams
1:28.331
4
Marino Sato
Virtuosi Racing
1:28.436
5
Felipe Drugovich
MP Motorsport
1:29.131
Top 5 Afternoon Session.
Day 2-
A drop of rain and dark clouds threatened a wet session on the morning of Day 2, but apart from a brief spitting the track would remain relatively dry throughout the third outing of the test. Trident’s Richard Verschoor set the benchmark time at the start, posting a 1:29.328.
There were several interruptions throughout the morning session, beginning when Marino Sato’s stopped on the main straight in the opening hour. Iwasa lost control of his DAMS and clipped the wall at Turn 5. Turn 5 was proving tricky to master in the conditions as Hughes and Caldwell both ended up in the gravel shortly after. There were two further Red Flags as Vips spun to a stop at Turn 11 and before Caldwell came to a standstill at Turn 4.
Roy Nissany set the fastest time of the morning session with a 1:28.812, Richard Verschoor was second with a 1:29.328 and Iwasa in third with a 1:29.596.
After a stop-start morning session, rain proved to be the only real interrupting factor in the afternoon as a sprinkle lead to a spell stuck in the garages, with too little rain for wet tyres and too much for slicks. Vips set the benchmark at 1:30.148 in the opening half an hour, but the Red Bull reserve, was knocked down to third by his HiTech teammate as well as Felipe Drugovich.
There was a brief stoppage as Calan Williams came to a halt at the final corner and brought out the session’s only Red Flag. There wasn’t much improvement in the final half an hour, PREMA’s Dennis Hauger managed to break into the top 10.
Position
Driver
Team
Laptime
1
Marcus Armstrong
HiTech Grand Prix
1:29.752
2
Felipe Drugovich
MP Motorsport
1:29.960
3
Juri Vips
HiTech Grand Prix
1:30.148
4
Amaury Cordeel
Van Amersfoort Racing
1:30.169
5
Dennis Hauger
PREMA Racing
1:30.169
Top 5 Afternoon Session.
Day 3-
The sun made its appearance on the final day of the test, the teams wasted no time getting out on track for some representative qualifying simulations. Lawson put on a set of softs and set the baseline time of a 1:27.888, marking the quickest time of the test so far. The PREMAs had also gone on fresh softs but couldn’t quite match the Carlin’s pace, Hauger 0.057s off in second and Daruvala in 3rd a further 0.074s.
Novalak stopped at Turn 2, which brought out a red flag. Doohan set the most laps in the three hour stint, with 50 to his name. The top 3 were P1: Drugovich, P2: Lawson and P3: Doohan.
After a brief delay to the afternoon session due to track maintenance, the session began. The majority of the grid was focused on long runs and race simulations in the afternoon, with Vips setting the benchmark at 1:29.888.
Vips was one of three stoppages during the final session, with the driver coming to a halt at Turn 3 in the final five minutes. Vesti and Hauger had also both stopped during the afternoon with the ART car coming to a stop at Turn 15 and PREMA pulling up at Turn 5.
2021 podium finisher, David Beckmann subbed in for Cem Bolukbasi at Charouz on Thursday after the Turkish racer suffered a physical problem on the first day of testing.
Position
Driver
Team
Laptime
1
Juri Vips
HiTech Grand Prix
1:29.288
2
Jake Hughes
Van Amersfoort Racing
1:30.802
3
Enzo Fittipaldi
Charouz Racing System
1:31.541
4
David Beckmann
Charouz Racing System
1:31.633
5
Amaury Cordeel
Van Amersfoort Racing
1:31.801
Top 5 Afternoon Session.
Formula 2 will be back on track next weekend, in Imola for Round 3!
Juan Manuel Correa, will not be taking part in the Formula 3 test in Barcelona this week after a metatarsal fracture on his left foot, his participation in Imola for Round 2 is also at risk.
Correa, was in pain during the whole two day F3 testing at Jerez last week, even being forced to cut short his running on the second day as the pain became unbearable.
His ability to brake was unsurprisingly impaired, particularly in the dry conditions of the test’s second day when he could only manage 47 laps in total.
Entering his second season in F3 with ART Grand Prix after his comeback after he sustain injuries whilst racing in Formula 2 at Spain in 2019, Correa qualified and finished in fourth position in the feature race in Bahrain, despite the pain that he was in.
After the Barcelona test, Correa was due to make his European Le Mans Series debut at Paul Ricard this weekend for Prema’s new LMP2 team alongside Louis Deletraz and Ferdinand Habsburg, which he will also have to miss.
I couldn’t drive too much unfortunately because I have still a bit of an issue with the leg from the race in Bahrain. In the last race of the weekend, I got some inflammation in the tendons in the left foot and it still hasn’t recovered so I’m in quite a bit of pain when I drive.I was actually lucky that it rained all day yesterday because it’s softer on the brake. Ever since Bahrain, we’ve been working mainly on trying to reduce that but it’s still not perfect. The whole left foot has a lot of inflammation. And the nerves have gotten inflammated. Everything at the end goes back to that [the Spa crash] and both to my physical limitations, especially the ones I had last year, and that I’m having now which I was not expecting to have this year. It is a very frustrating to be in that position right now.
Juan Manuel Correa, talking at Testing in Jerez.
We did an MRI scan yesterday night (Thursday), got the results today (Friday) and there is indeed a stress fracture there. The doctors have recommended a couple of weeks rest. Lets see how it heals itself, how the pain improves. We are going to try to push the recovery to be able to do the Imola race but nothing is guaranteed.
Correa took to social media at the weekend, with a video message.
Absolutely gutted for him, it seems like just as things were getting good for him something like this happens! But health always comes first, so its the right decision for him to sit out of testing in Barcelona. Hopefully we see Correa back on track in Imola!
Jordan's Track Talk 