Spanish Grand Prix: Practice Recap

TGR Haas F1 Team drivers Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman wasted little time in familiarizing themselves with the challenging 5.416-kilometer (3.365-mile), 22-turn circuit in FP1 – having only previously experienced the layout on the simulator. Both VF-26s ran one set each of the Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium and Red soft tires – lap times dropping as they transitioned from baseline stints into more aggressive running. Ocon set a best lap of 1:35.834 on the softs – placing P12 at the end of the session. Bearman landed P16 – his fastest lap a 1:36.853, also on the soft compound.

FP2 again saw both drivers run a mix of medium and soft tires – the session interrupted with a solitary red flag stop of around 10 minutes. Ocon led the way on the soft rubber, the Frenchman planting his VF-26 inside the top 10 courtesy of a 1:34.867 lap for P9. Bearman posted a best tour of 1:35.203 - earning the British racer P14 on the timesheets. Ocon and Bearman ended the day running high-fuel laps through to the checkered flag.

TGR Haas F1 Team ran a total of 101 laps on Friday across FP1 and FP2 – 51 by Ocon, with 50 from Bearman.

Ollie Bearman:

“It was an interesting first day at the Madring, it’s a cool track and it’s fun to drive – it feels to me like a hybrid of Baku and Jeddah. FP1 was a bit challenging, but we made a few changes on the car and made a big step forward for FP2, so I’m quite happy with the progress. Now I have the feeling in the car that I had in Monza, so I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow.”

Esteban Ocon:

“What’s positive is that we can have a feel of the new upgrades, much more than in Monza. There are a lot more corners, more grip-limited sections, and at the moment, we don’t have the inconsistency between cars, which is quite positive, so we need to have a good look at that. We’ll keep pushing, it’s been a very good day, so we need to keep at it. The track is extremely challenging in every aspect, but it’s very good fun, and I’m having a blast out there.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“It was a decent Friday. It’s good that both cars are performing, because we had issues before and overall, when that happens, we can learn from both cars every single lap. We made good improvement between FP1 and FP2, where track conditions were good, although it’s a very challenging track. We tackled everything well, and tonight we need to look at tire degradation, which everyone is suffering from – qualifying tomorrow is going to be very important. There’s some fine-tuning to do tonight in terms of tire management and car balance, but it’s been a good start to the weekend.”