Spanish Grand Prix 2021, first F1 practice live: latest updates and times

AWelcome to our coverage of the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya in Montmelo.

So far, three races in the F1 season and three incredibly tight weekends. So close that it’s impossible to say who has the better package overall. After thinking about it, Red Bull seems to have the fastest machine in a lap, but a couple of mistakes by its drivers have resulted in Mercedes being 2-1 on pole positions. Mercedes’ weaknesses seem to be less pronounced in the race, or that was certainly the case last time in Portugal. But the harder tires and somewhat unusual conditions – very windy and with a very grippy track – may have something to do with it.

In Spain the conditions will be more familiar and “normal”. Given the type of track (it has a bit of everything, a fairly long straight, long and short high speed corners, long and short low speed corners, and some elevation changes) and how often the teams test here, we should get a good read on how the teams do really develop.

Red Bull will hope that they can reap an advantage and use it again. They didn’t do that in Bahrain. Second place was a good return in Portugal for Max Verstappen, but you can definitely argue that he should have been in pole position. All in all, Red Bull should go in this direction as a marginal favorite. But it’s really too tight to call and this is a track where Mercedes has taken the lead over the past few years. Lewis Hamilton has won every event here since 2017. If Red Bull can beat Mercedes, it will be a significant moment.

On the field, Alpine is hoping to build a much better weekend in Portugal and Aston Martin is looking to have their first decent race of the year after a very bad start. McLaren and Ferrari are likely to lead the midfield as they play all season but don’t count AlphaTauri either.

The first training begins at 10.30 a.m. CET, the second at 2 p.m. We’ll be here for both sessions and all of the action.