Oscar Piastri's telling comments about rival as Aussie clings to slim F1 lead
Oscar Piastri has topped the practice session in Barcelona after his setback in Monte Carlo but admitted Red Bull rival Max Verstappen is looking fast ahead of the Spanish GP. Piastri would have been disappointed having watched his lead cut to just three points lat week with McLaren teammate Norris closing the gap.
However, Piastri laid down the marker on Friday setting a quickest time of 1 minute 12.760 seconds to eclipse Norris. His McLaren teammate had earlier set a best of 1:13.718 in first practice.
Verstappen is heading into the Spanish GP as last year's winner and was second and third respectively in the sessions. However, Piastri had an eye on Red Bull's car having admitted they look extremely dangerous in Barcelona.
'Our competitors look quick,' Piastri said. 'I think Verstappen's been quick all day. It's going to be a tight battle tomorrow, I think. I think we definitely expected Red Bull to be quick, so that's not a big surprise. We're just trying to make the car a bit faster.'
And in telling signs, Verstappen was upbeat after the practice session and felt Red Bull had more to add for qualifying. 'We've had worse Fridays!' he said. 'I felt a bit happier with the car.
'We're still not I think where we want to be, but it's definitely a bit more positive. I still want a better feeling from the car, but I've also had Fridays where we were completely out of it. it's a bit more in the middle.'
Teams are practicing with the new front wings introduced for the Spanish GP. However, Red Bull boss Christian Horner feels it's not making a big difference. "I think it's going to take more than one session to see if there is an impact. Or if so, how it's affected the different cars," said the Red Bull team boss. "It didn't sound from the drivers' comments too different to a normal Friday."
Horner also addressed McLaren's two drivers who are leading the standings. "You have got to say that McLaren have to be favourite, they have looked incredibly strong throughout the early races," he said. "We have got to make sure to keep in touch, and to beat them you have to start taking points off them."
Lewis Hamilton was one of the most frustrated drivers of the day having finished in 11th place ahead of qualifying. Hamilton didn't show any enthusiasm having suggested it was a disappointing result.
'Not fun,' he said. 'You arrive on a Friday and you're hoping for a good day, but then it doesn't go well … honestly, I thought the car was going to be good today. It wasn't too bad in FP1, but in FP2 it was quite a lot worse. Naturally that's frustrating for everyone.'
His teammate, Charles Leclerc finished in fifth and showed more optimism heading into the weekend. 'It's been a bit more positive than what we expected coming here, so that's good,' he said. 'There's more performance in the car, which I hope we will unlock tomorrow for quali. There's still quite a bit of work to be done, but I don't think we are too far out.'
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