Madring: The first day of Formula 1 action

Practice 1:

Our first practice session at Madring in Formula One was actually a bit dull. People thought that drivers would be crashing causing Red and Yellow flags, but in reality the drivers were very well behaved throughout the session. Much to everyone’s surprise, there were zero red flags and one double yellow through the entire session. It is not clear what the double yellow was for but it was out in Turn 12 when both Aston Martins were heading through that section of the track.

George Russell topped the session, followed by teammate Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc. Hamilton, Verstappen, Norris, Lindblad, Piastri, Hulkenberg and Lawson rounded out the top ten.

George Russell tops the first practice session

The first runs were clearly the drivers attempts at getting to grips with the new track, so the lap times were not blazing and there was a massive spread in times across the field based on how comfortable they were at pushing the limits of a new track early on.

We have learned that tire degradation is in fact high. F2 team principals, who practiced earlier on in the day, have said that degradation is higher than in Qatar. Although I do not know the exact degradation in Qatar compared to here, it was evident in FP1 that degradation is very high. The graining was visible on the front left and on the rear tires for every driver.

We saw some mistakes from drivers, which is to be expected at a new track. Leclerc went very wide in turn 17 and was lucky to not make contact with the wall. Perez locked up in 17 later on but luckily did not get as close to the wall as the Ferrari. On other parts of the circuit, Alonso clipped the wall in turn 8. He had no damage but it is something he will want to avoid making a habit.

One issue that keeps popping up is impeding. Naturally because the walls are so close to the track and a lot of corners are somewhat blind, it is harder for the drivers to get out the way. I have actually lost track of the amount of times we saw a driver on a fast lap getting blocked so this is definitely something to keep and eye on when we head into qualifying on Saturday.

There were some technical issues for a few drivers. Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bull had an issue with power steering, which he reported over the radio nearly made him crash. He got back the pits and did not head out for the rest of the session, which is unfortunate at a brand new track as he would probably like to get as much running time under his belt as possible in practice. Oscar Piastri’s McLaren had an issue, he reported over the radio that something was hanging around his feet. He also had to box to sort out the issue and had to get out of the car as the mechanics tried to fix his problem. Lewis Hamilton reported at the end of the session that his Ferrari experience a power cut that caused the rear wheels to lock, which made him think his engine had cut out. Thankfully it hadn’t but this is something the Ferrari mechanics are likely to be looking at in the break before FP2.

Practice 2:

Mercedes get a clean sweep on Friday as Antonelli leads the second session of the day ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton. Lindblad, Russell, Verstappen, Piastri, Tsunoda, Ocon and Lawson finish the top ten.

Antonelli tops the second practice session

The first thing to note about the cars this session is the teams seem to be more comfortable lowering them now that they have some data after FP1. There have been much more plank marks on the track, particularly in La Monumental where the track banks heavily. Along with this, drivers seem to be much more comfortable with the track now and are going more flat out. There is much less lifting at the make their way around the track, which is very nice to see as we want these cars to be on the edge at a challenging track like Madring.

Unfortunately, this was not a completely clean session for a few drivers. Lando Norris did not complete a lap in the second practice session as his car had a gearbox problem immediately after he left the garage. McLaren have had to change his entire gearbox as a result. This is a shame as this seems like a track McLaren and Norris could have excelled at but he has now lost valuable running time.

Arvid Lindblad was running beautifully in the session to begin with but he met trouble when he hit the barrier in turn 13. He lost the rears early on and spun around into the barriers, causing a lot of damage to his Racing Bulls that had to be lifted away. This brought out the first Red Flag we have seen in F1 around Madring.

Arvid's Racing Bull in the barriers