Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc dominated Friday Practice for 2022 Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Max Verstappen initially headed proceedings across both practice sessions but on the soft tyre runs, it was Leclerc who shone brightest as he eventually topped both sessions.
Friday Practice also saw several teams opt to bring fresh upgrades whilst Red Bull and Williams ran young drivers in FP1 in the form of Juri Vips and Nyck De Vries respectively.
Now here is a full roundup of Friday Practice for 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.
FP1
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was first out on track ahead of Juri Vips who replaced Sergio Perez at Red Bull for FP1, as part of new rules requiring all teams to run an inexperienced driver across two FP1 sessions this season.
Carlos Sainz soon set the benchmark lap time on hard tyres as he posted 1m 25.040 but was quickly displaced by several drivers, as Max Verstappen went quickest with 1m 23.163 and proceeded to dominate the opening half-hour as he lowered the benchmark to 1m 22.143.
Williams’ FP1 Young Driver, Nyck De Vries was the first driver to attempt a Qualifying simulation on soft tyres as he went fourth in the 28th minute, which triggered a flurry of drivers to follow suit with Charles Leclerc coming out on top with 1m 19.828 just 0.079 seconds ahead of Sainz.
Verstappen was third-fastest ahead of George Russell, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, as the entire field completed their best FP1 times on soft tyres in a relatively uneventful but busy session gathering data on fresh car upgrades.
Outside of the top ten, De Vries finished 18th quickest but 0.091s faster than his experienced teammate for this session, Nicholas Latifi, whilst Vips was the slowest driver overall.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 19.828 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.079 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.336 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.762 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.940 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.983 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.451 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1.594 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.909 |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.986 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 2.063 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 2.092 |
| 13 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo | + 2.147 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 2.261 |
| 15 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 2.318 |
| 16 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 2.336 |
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 2.786 |
| 18 | Nyck De Vries | Williams | + 3.092 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 3.183 |
| 20 | Juri Vips | Red Bull | + 4.310 |
FP2
Having missed FP1 to make room for De Vries, Alex Albon was first out on track in FP2 for Williams but Verstappen swiftly set the pace with 1m 20.932 on medium tyres, ahead of Sainz and Leclerc as 0.063s separated the top three.
Valtteri Bottas grinded to a halt ten minutes into the session on the inside of the opening corners with engine issues, which caused a brief Virtual Safety Car period whilst marshals removed his Alfa Romeo car.
Once the session resumed, Verstappen further lowered his benchmark to 1m 20.006 on soft tyres after briefly being displaced by Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel just minutes earlier.
Leclerc however emerged fastest again as he topped FP2 with 1m 19.670 on his soft-tyre Qualifying simulation, with Mercedes rounding out the top three as Russell headed Hamilton with Sainz finishing fourth quickest ahead of Verstappen, Alonso and Perez who completed the top seven.
Everyone except Bottas and Lando Norris completed their fastest laps on the soft tyre unlike the latter pair who set their quickest times on medium tyres, with Bottas finishing 16th quickest and Norris was 20th plus slowest driver overall after suffering floor damage.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 19.670 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.117 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.204 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.320 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.336 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | + 0.533 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.962 |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | + 1.033 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.075 |
| 10 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | + 1.087 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | + 1.247 |
| 12 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.343 |
| 13 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.579 |
| 14 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.615 |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | + 1.715 |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 2.158 |
| 17 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 2.196 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.649 |
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | + 3.527 |
| 20 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 3.718 |
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