Friday, May 7th, 2021
Hamilton sets the fastest time on Friday
Vettel improves noticeably in training
The updates to the Aston Martin car are having an effect during training for the Spanish Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel seems to feel more comfortable in the revised racing car and beats his teammate. At the top, Mercedes sets an example, Mick Schumacher follows.
New parts, new hope: Sebastian Vettel has shown rising form in training for the Spanish Grand Prix and looks ready to fight for the first championship points of the season. While in the title duel between Mercedes and Red Bull the Silver Arrows for world champion Lewis Hamilton surprisingly had a clear advantage, the improvements made to Vettel’s Aston Martin apparently had an effect.
The four-time world champion finished eleventh in 1: 18.947 minutes – but the gap to tenth and Sergio Perez in the Red Bull was only around three hundredths of a second. He left the last strong McLaren behind. Vettel was also around two tenths faster than his Canadian teammate Lance Stroll.
Nevertheless, Vettel did not remain flawless. In the morning’s first practice session, he damaged the front wing on the curbs at turn seven. Vettel’s car received underbody upgrades for the race in Spain. In the fourth round of the season on Sunday (3 p.m. / RTL, Sky and in the live ticker at ntv.de), the Heppenheimer finally wants to make it into the top ten for the first time. Team boss Otmar Szafnauer was already satisfied after the first practice session: “It looks like he’s getting the car under control better and better.”
Schumacher continues to depend on Mazepin
A lot of work awaits Red Bull before qualifying on Saturday. World Championship challenger Max Verstappen in ninth and Perez in tenth had a surprisingly difficult time in Barcelona. Red Bull was still a long way from the “real pace” that Verstappen had announced in advance. The first exchange of blows between the World Cup favorites was clearly decided by Hamilton. The record champion set the fastest time in 1: 18.170 minutes. His Finnish team-mate Valtteri Bottas came in second (1: 18.309). Mercedes also impressed in the long runs.
Rookie Mick Schumacher struggled with the usual problems of the defeated Haas. In 19th place, the 22-year-old was again faster than his team-mate Nikita Mazepin. The Russian again revealed major adjustment problems in Formula 1. Mazepin landed in the gravel trap at the beginning of the first session after a driving error, but was able to continue training. In the first practice session he was 1.2 seconds slower than the reigning Formula 2 champion, and in the second practice session 0.4 seconds.
Despite his good performance in Formula 1 so far, Schumacher is not the clear number one with the Haas team. That explained team boss Günther Steiner. “It’s too early to speak of a leadership role. If someone says Mick is number one, that’s wrong,” he said. Schumacher and Mazepin are “equal”.
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