Norris edges Verstappen in Spanish GP practice

McLaren’s Lando Norris headed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in first practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Norris was just 0.024 seconds quicker than the world champion as both set their times on the fastest ‘soft’ tyre.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was third fastest, 0.344secs off the pace but using the medium tyre for his best lap, as did Mercedes’ George Russell in fourth.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton were next in the order.

Red Bull and Ferrari both have significant upgrades on their cars for the start of a run of races in the European heartland of Formula 1.

But Charles Leclerc was not happy with his Ferrari, complaining midway through the session that it was “horrendous for now”.

Only Sainz had the full upgrade package on his car for the first session. Leclerc had the new rear wing and some new bodywork around the halo, but not the new floor, diffuser and engine cover.

Spain is the first of races on three consecutive weekends, followed by Austria and Silverstone, before a week’s gap and then Hungary and Belgium back to back before the sport has its August break.

It was a relatively incident-free session, although there was a brief red-flag period when a body part flew off Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin through the high-speed Turn Nine and landed on the track.

Alonso, whose last F1 win was at this event 11 years ago, was ninth fastest, behind the Alpine of Esteban Ocon and ahead of Alex Albon’s Williams.