Mercedes enjoyed a dominant Friday Practice as teams and drivers prepared for 2021 Spanish Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas topped the morning session whilst Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the afternoon session, as Mercedes enjoyed another dominant Friday Practice.
Elsewhere, there isn’t much to separate several drivers throughout the grid heading into Saturday as we round up the best of Friday Practice.
FP1
Sergio Perez was first driver to venture out onto the circuit but Haas’ Nikita Mazepin caused the first incident of the day just four minutes into the session, with the Russian losing his rear end through Turn Seven and had a spin into Turn Eight.
Mazepin luckily was able to reverse and continue on his way as Lewis Hamilton set the initial pace with 1m 21.014 until Max Verstappen went quickest just minutes later with 1m 20.405 with Hamilton 0.074 seconds off the Red Bull driver after improving on his second lap.
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso did a surprise early Qualifying simulation on soft tyres which sent him top in the 11th minute with 1m 19.950, only for Hamilton to immediately displace him with a 1m 19.675 on the hard tyres.
Hamilton improved further in the 33rd minute as he posted 1m 18.808 before eventually posting a 1m 18.627 just six minutes later, although Valtteri Bottas would post a session topping 1m 18.504 just minutes later.
Alfa Romeo’s Reserve Driver – Robert Kubica soon after brought out the red flag following a spin at Turn 10 which beached him in the gravel trap.
Once the session resumed after a seven minute delay, Verstappen went second quickest and just 0.033s off Bottas, as he sandwiched both Mercedes drivers.
Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Sebastian Vettel, Perez and Lance Stroll rounded out the top ten.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m 18.504 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.033 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.123 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.440 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.516 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.547 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.558 |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 0.730 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.845 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.925 |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.165 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.177 |
| 13 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | + 1.190 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.228 |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 1.446 |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 1.766 |
| 17 | Roy Nissany | Williams | + 2.196 |
| 18 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 2.262 |
| 19 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo | + 3.383 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | + 3.472 |
FP2
Kimi Raikkonen was straight out on track after having given up his FP1 seat to Kubica, but Bottas set the initial pace on 1m 19.087 as several drivers opted for mediums.
Verstappen soon afterwards went top with 1m 19.041 but Bottas immediately displaced him with 1m 18.419 and 0.042s quicker than Hamilton after the Brit’s second flier.
Drivers soon switched focus to their low-fuel qualifying simulations on soft tyres with Hamilton setting a session topping 1m 18.170, putting him 0.139s faster than Bottas as Leclerc popped up third fastest for Ferrari.
Alpine were fourth and fifth quickest as Esteban Ocon edged out Fernando Alonso by just 0.052s whilst AlphaTauri were sixth and seventh quickest as Gasly edged out Yuki Tsunoda by 0.026s.
Sainz was eighth quickest ahead of Verstappen and Perez, although Verstappen abandoned both of his soft tyre fliers due to mistakes.
All drivers managed uninterrupted qualifying runs without any issues.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m 18.170 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | + 0.139 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.165 |
| 4 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.296 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.348 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 0.423 |
| 7 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.449 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.504 |
| 9 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.615 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.748 |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 0.777 |
| 12 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.922 |
| 13 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | + 0.952 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.964 |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.025 |
| 16 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | + 1.043 |
| 17 | George Russell | Williams | + 1.787 |
| 18 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 1.876 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 2.156 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | + 2.583 |