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Key events
Lap 14/66: Norris comes in as well. Verstappen has got some mediums on and Hamilton opts for hards. Russell is getting a fit fidgety on the team radio at coming in so early.
Lap 13/66: Russell responds to Ferrari’s strategy by coming into the pits himself to swap his mediums for hards. Antonelli leads the way for the moment.
Lap 12/66: Alonso gets off the mark with a pass on Bottas at the back of the field. That’ll be popular.
Lap 11/66: “I’m wobbling on the straight. It’s quite impressive,” says Verstappen. He and Hamilton both come into the pits.
Lap 10/66: Hadjar eventually gets past Lindblad into 10th. Leclerc is gaining on Verstappen and is now within half a second.
Lap 9/66: Lindblad holds on to the last points place for the time being against Hadjar. Norris complains that he’s “sliding everywhere” on the McLaren radio – and he’s not alone.
Lap 8/66: Hajdar sets his sights on Lindblad in 10th next.
Lap 7/66: There’s a 3sec gap between Russell and Hamilton. Hadjar goes past a sliding Colapinto into 11th. Leclerc and Piastri battle for sixth and it’s the Ferrari driver who goes past on the outside and holds it.
Lap 6/66: Hülkenberg is under investigation for his overtake on Lindblad and possibly leaving the track to gain an advantage. Stroll’s afternoon appears over as he comes into the pits. Hadjar moves past Gasly into 12th.
Lap 5/66: Verstappen’s soft tyres haven’t propelled him forward either, still in fifth and he’s not exactly making ground up on Norris in fourth.
Lap 4/66: An early attack from Hamilton on his soft tyres is yet to materialise as Russell extends his lead bit by bit.
Lap 3/66: Hadjar starts to move back up the field, moving past Sainz with ease. Leclerc was a big mover too, up to 7th from his starting spot of 10th. It’s as you were with the top five.
Lap 2/66: Lindblad had moved as high as 9th on that first lap before Hülkenberg takes the place back. Hadjar has tumbled almost 10 places after a nightmare start.
Lights out!
Russell holds off the challenge from Hamilton on turn one! Antonelli also stays ahead of Norris.
The drivers head out for their formation lap. It’s a scorching day in Catalonia. Interestingly, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are both starting on soft tyres. That’s brave!
George Russell does a grid interview from his scooter: “In these conditions it’s never going to be nice and comfortable. Lewis is on form and Kimi … nothing seems to stop him at the moment. I need to try and make amends.”
Lando Norris’s feet are on the ground for his interview: “We’re here to race. We want to try and win, so I’m going to go for that. But at the same time we’re against some fast cars, so we’ll play it as we should.
The drivers line up for the Spanish national anthem, with a Spain flag and the Catalan senyera unfurled on track. Carlos Sainz is the other home favourite involved today, back in 16th with Williams.
The umbrellas come down, the boiler suits come off. It’s almost time for the formation lap.
The trackside DJ is playing One More Time by Daft Punk, no doubt not a coincidence on what is expected to be Fernando Alonso’s 23rd and final F1 race at Barcelona.
The 44-year-old has won here on two occasions (with Renault in 2006 and Ferrari in 2013), with another five podiums to his name. Just coaxing his Aston Martin home today would be enough, you imagine, but that won’t bother the thousands waving Spanish flags in the stands, including his own grandstand.
I’m not sure about the DJ’s back-up dancers, clad from head to toe in material with a Park Güell-themed stone pattern. Very mysterious.
“Hi William,” writes a very formal Tomas Barbosa. “What do you think the tyre strategies will be today? I heard rumours of a 3 stop?”
I will bow to the expertise of Pirelli’s head of motorsport, Dario Marrafuschi:
We expect at least a two-stop strategy – at least two stops. In theory, we expect that the best strategy is medium-hard-hard, also because teams have saved the hard tyres and we think they probably wanted to have those tyres as an option for the race.
The common sense lets us think that the two stops with medium-hard-hard could be an option with a first stop between 15 and 21 and the second between 38 and 44.
For someone like Max Verstappen, starting 5th on the grid, a three-stop strategy might be a little bit quicker – but then again you run the risk of overheating those soft tyres when overtaking towards the end of the race. Track temperatures reached around 50C for qualifying yesterday!
‘The worst car and the worst engine’
Fernando Alonso says this will probably be his last F1 race in front of his home fans in Barcelona. The Aston Martin driver starts from the pits today, being outqualified by teammate Lance Stroll for the first time in 42 races.
The Spanish veteran was, er, not happy yesterday:
We knew we have the worst car and the worst engine and we’ve been very clear in every race so far that we have to work.
We repeat the same thing and it’s exhausting. We’re last, we know it, and we have no problem admitting it.
We have the worst engine, very poor energy deployment, gearbox problems and aerodynamic problems. We’re waiting for the second half of the year, and I hope we can improve a bit when the new car arrives.
A reminder of how qualifying went down yesterday …
Russell was in high spirits:
Really happy to be back in my groove. It’s been a difficult few races, obviously bad luck, and some poor performances in there, but I went back to an approach I knew works for me.
Car setup, mentality … Going back to basics. These cars are so complicated … it’s challenging to get on top of things, especially when I’ve got a guy like this [Antonelli] next to me performing so well … I’m just glad to feel myself again, feel at one with the car again.
Starting grid
Here’s how we line up in Catalonia today:
1 George Russell (Mercedes)
2 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
3 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
4 Lando Norris (McLaren)
5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
6 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)
7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
9 Nico Hülkenberg (Audi)
10 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
11 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)
13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
15 Ollie Bearman (Haas)
16 Carlos Sainz (Williams)
17 Esteban Ocon (Haas)
18 Alex Albon (Williams)
19 Sergio Pérez (Cadillac)
20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)
21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
Pit-lane Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
Preamble
Hello, welcome, benvinguts. Is this the day George Russell reignites his title challenge? The Mercedes driver said he felt “like my old self again” after beating Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton to pole at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya yesterday and today is looking to win his first grand prix since the opener in Australia.
Kimi Antonelli, flying the sporting flag for Italy this summer in the absence of the Azzurri at the World Cup, starts third on the grid and leads the drivers’ standings by a whopping 66 points after five race wins on the spin, capped with victory at Monaco last weekend.
It’s lights out in Catalonia at 2pm (BST), so let’s all inject a bit of variety into our lives before another onslaught of football. Whether you’re a bleary-eyed Scot just waking up or an Australian toasting the Socceroos before bed, join me for lap-by-lap coverage and get in touch via email as the action unfolds. Anem
