F1

All F1 teams bar Haas have introduced new upgrades for the Spanish Grand Prix. Here's what every team has introduced for this weekend's race at the.

Finally, they have made modifications to the halo and rear wing. Alpine have a new rear wing designed to give both drivers more downforce as both Barcelona and Monaco are high downforce circuits. Dubbed the ‘green Red Bull’, Aston Martin have eight new components for this weekend. They have also removed the cockpit strake to improve visibility. According to reports in the Dutch media, Red Bull have shaved off 5kg in terms of weight which will find them even more lap time. Ferrari hope to improve the entire aerodynamic performance of their 2022 challenger with these upgrades.

Aston Martin have been cleared to use their new-look car despite its similarities to Red Bull's after an FIA investigation confirmed there had been "no ...

"The FIA have been to the factory at Silverstone to look at the data and all of the processes used to create this new update package which looks like the Red Bull and the FIA have confirmed to Aston Martin, in writing, that their new update has been generated as a result of legitimate, independent work by Aston Martin themselves within the technical regulations." "That is hotly denied by Aston Martin and they say they have shared the detail of their latest update with the FIA and all their people. "Red Bull were questioning because there has been some movement from some people from Red Bull to Aston Martin over the winter and over the last few months and there were some questions from Red Bull over whether those people had taken any data with them. Before the FIA released their statement, Red Bull boss Christian Horner had accused Aston Martin of "copying" their car. But Aston Martin had been insistent that they designed the car over the winter, and the FIA confirmed the car passed a a 'pre-event legality check' in Barcelona. Aston Martin have been cleared to use their new-look car despite its similarities to Red Bull's after an FIA investigation confirmed there had been "no wrongdoing" and that the upgrades were "compliant".

The FIA has cleared Aston Martin after carrying out an investigation into the similarities between its updated Formula 1 car and Red Bull's car ahead of the ...

A spokesperson from Aston Martin said: “We have shared details of our update with the FIA technical people. “The investigation, which involved CAD checks and a detailed analysis of the development process adopted by Aston Martin, confirmed that no wrongdoing had been committed, and therefore the FIA considers that the Aston Martin aerodynamic upgrades are compliant,” the statement from the FIA reads. The FIA clamped down on reverse engineering car designs in the wake of the Pink Mercedes case, and revealed in Barcelona on Friday that it did look into the updated Aston Martin car.

Red Bull has responded to the FIA's statement clearing Aston Martin over similarities in its Formula 1 car design by saying any transfer of IP would be 'a ...

“What he has in his head… We will look into it in detail.” Reverse engineering has been banned in F1 since Racing Point – Aston Martin’s predecessor – based its 2020 car design on the 2019 Mercedes title-winner.

Formula One opened the European leg of the season in sweltering temperatures with an appropriately heated and fractious atmosphere in the paddock.

Following a raft of upgrades to the floor of the car, the team appeared to enjoy a decrease in the porpoising that has plagued them this season. We showed them the data and they found themselves with their hands tied because they had already issued the penalty. Fernando Alonso launched a scathing attack on the FIA, the sport’s governing body, for which he faces a potential punishment, while Red Bull in turn expressed scorn and disbelief at Aston Martin, who were accused of copying the design of their car. At the end of last year, two senior aerodynamicists, Dan Fallows and Andrew Alessi, left Red Bull to join Aston Martin and the Red Bull Team principal, Christian Horner, noted his “grave concern” that Red Bull’s intellectual property may have been compromised. But Red Bull were unwilling to let the matter lie. The Spaniard was given a five-second penalty at the last round in Miami for cutting a chicane – dropping the Alpine driver from a points-scoring position.

A new floor and a circuit-specific rear wing are among Ferrari's first major 2022 F1 upgrade package, revealed on Friday at the Spanish GP.

A high-downforce rear wing has also been declared. The new floor is also designed to help combat the porpoising Ferrari has suffered in the opening grands prix and allow it to run the car lower to the ground. But Red Bull has developed its RB18 more since the start of the season and that has been the faster car in the last two races, allowing Max Verstappen to score back-to-back wins.

Esteban Ocon has been assured of changes to the Turn 7 barrier for next year's Miami Formula 1 race after both he and Carlos Sainz were left nursing small ...

“So there's definitely something to review.” Everything’s been listened, acknowledged, and action will be done. “I had a chat with the race director yesterday, we had a one-hour chat to be fair on all of this situation and why it had not been explained,” Ocon said.

Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari 1-2 in first practice for Formula 1's 2022 Spanish Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen third but losing time on his quickest run ...

The pair will visit the stewards after the session as a result of Hamilton clipping the Barcelona gravel as he passed Alonso touring slowly on the medium tyres just past the halfway point – the Alpine driver under investigation for appearing to impede the Mercedes as Hamilton completed his quickest lap of the session. Fernando Alonso finished fifth after jumping up the order with a late run on the softs as most of his rivals sat in the pits, slotting ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes. Leclerc was the next of the 2022 frontrunners to set a time on the softs, running just after Verstappen, and setting a purple middle sector as he went quickest with a 1m19.828s – just 0.079s quicker than his team-mate. Of the leaders, Sainz led the way on the red-walled rubber, which he duly took to the top of the times on a 1m19.907s. After a trip to the pits to change his front wing, but not tyres, Verstappen continued to improve on the hards – setting a 1m22.143s and then 1m21.876s just before his 12-lap run came to an end and he pitted at the end of the session’s opening 20 minutes. Verstappen’s first time on a long first run on the hards came in at 1m23.163s and he worked that down to a 1m22.693s with two subsequent fliers either side of Leclerc briefly slotting ahead with a 1m22.820s also on the white-walled rubber.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fastest during Spanish Grand Prix practice in Barcelona on Friday, the sixth round of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship.

Sainz and Alex Albon (Williams) had a spat after Turn 1, which stewards will investigate after the session. Sebastian Vettel was the first to set a time on softs in his updated Aston Martin, which has been the talk of the paddock today, setting the bar at 1m20.703s. That was soon beaten by Verstappen on 1m20.006s. Teams ran medium tyres at the beginning of this session, with Verstappen leading the way on 1m20.932s, 0.046s ahead of Sainz and 0.063s quicker than Leclerc – the latter suffering a scruffy end to his lap. Russell was best of the rest for Mercedes, lapping 0.762s off the pace on 1m20.590s. He later had a big moment when he came across the second Red Bull, driven for the first time in FP1 by F2 racer Juri Vips. After early running on the hard tyres, Sainz set the bar on softs at 1m19.907s. That looked set to be toppled by Verstappen, who set the fastest first two sectors when he came across a huge amount of traffic towards the end of the lap. Leclerc was quickest in both FP1 and FP2, ahead of Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz and Red Bull’s reigning world champion Max Verstappen across the two one-hour sessions.

The British driver compared the situation when the car violently bounces on its suspension at high speed to football's dementia problem.

“The cars are extremely rigid and they are not meant to be a comfortable ride. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. “I’m not a designer, and I wouldn’t say I have an opinion on whether the design is right or wrong,” said Hamilton. “It looks a bit different to some others but it looks unique and that’s what we stand for as a team - always innovating and coming up with interesting concepts. “It is positive and I am super happy with the progress so a big thank you to everybody back at the factory for not giving up and continuing to push,” said Hamilton. It is much nicer than it has been before and so I am grateful for the upgrades and we now need to fine-tune them and try to position the car. “When you are travelling at 200mph on the straight, and you are smashing up and down on the ground, for sure you wouldn’t choose to have it that way,” said Russell, 24.

Here are the results from the second practice session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where Charles Leclerc completed a Friday sweep.

- Nicholas Latifi Williams +3.527 - Alex Albon Williams +2.649 - Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.320 - Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.204 - George Russell Mercedes +0.117 - Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:19.670

Charles Leclerc dominated the opening two practice sessions for the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday to suggest Ferrari's new upgrades will help take the title ...

Both Mercedes cars showed consistently good pace in session one with times in the top six but it remained to be seen if they have finally found the silver bullet to their problems. Verstappen was third quickest and three tenths of a second off the pace of the top Ferrari initially and dropped down to fifth fastest but the same time gap in the second session. Both drivers made it clear it was a make-or-break call.

Carlos Sainz admits he's 'in two minds” about the risks of driving classic Formula 1 cars, having seen Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc crash a classic ...

Every time I’m going to jump in, I’m going to push a car, and then these things can happen and leaves you with the other questions. "If I’m jumping in a car, I’m going to push it,” Sainz said. “But I’m in two minds with it, because why would you risk it first, like why?

Lewis Hamilton feels Mercedes is on its way to getting back to the front of Formula 1, after upgrades in Spain helped it dial out much of its porpoising ...

We definitely don't have the porpoising on the straight, which is good, but we're still experiencing a bit here and there in the corners, which ultimately you need to dial out.” We still have some bouncing, but it’s way better.” Speaking after the session, Hamilton said: “I’m positive, yeah.

Charles Leclerc asserted his authority at the Spanish GP by topping Practice Two, although the championship leader was closely challenged by Mercedes as ...

"But the car is definitely reacting differently and we have different limitations this time." While Leclerc dominated Friday, the story of the day in terms of track performance came at Mercedes as F1's world champions for the past eight seasons displayed pace to hint at a return to contention in Barcelona. But the early signs are positive for a three-team fight in Barcelona, with the action continuing on Saturday with final practice at 12pm and a crucial qualifying at 3pm. But Mercedes then joined the fight at the front as Russell and then Hamilton pushed the limits of a car that has a raft of upgrades for this weekend. The challenge for Mercedes will now be avoiding a repeat of Miami - where they were fast on Friday but then fell back through the weekend - and challenging in qualifying and the race. Charles Leclerc asserted his authority at the Spanish GP by topping Practice Two, although the championship leader was closely challenged by Mercedes as George Russell and Lewis Hamilton found pace in their upgraded cars.

Mercedes went from F1 practice leader to its natural position in the Miami race, but it has reason to believe it's closer at the Spanish GP.

In reality, Fernando Alonso’s Alpine was the most consistently quick of the group – and the controversially updated Aston Martin with its Red Bull-like bodywork looked significantly more competitive than the previous version. 1m26.398s (9 laps) Nonetheless, Mercedes has real cause for optimism. “The tyres are going to pieces,” he radioed in just eight laps into his run. With its new floor, the W13 still needs fine-tuning into its sweet spot, but both drivers feel that’s perfectly feasible. Unfortunately for Russell, the Ferrari was circulating not far ahead of him and its tyre difficulties, therefore, had an impact on Russell’s average too. Verstappen did by far the most convincing long run, with a super-consistent and pretty long sequence on the medium tyres. “The car’s definitely reacting differently,” said Russell. “We don’t have the porpoising on the straight but we have it in some of the corners here and there which ultimately you need to dial out. “It’s the first time we’ve driven down the straight without bouncing. But both Hamilton and Russell were competitive in both measures. There is genuinely a sense that Mercedes may be on the road to Formula 1 recovery. Their judgements proved accurate over the following two days.

Charles Leclerc headed the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton during the qualifying simulations in second practice ahead of Formula 1's 2022 ...

Pierre Gasly was the first driver to miss out on the top 10, the AlphaTauri pipping the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll. A puff of smoke from the rear was matched by the engine seeming to die promptly as Bottas pulled up on the edge of the track at the exit of Turn 1. Verstappen had been the first driver to set a fairly representative lap time on medium rubber as he and Sainz dropped below the 1m21s threshold ahead of Leclerc and the Mercedes. Hamilton was a late adopter of the soft tyre and ran particularly well in the final part of the second sector to land the third-fastest effort - albeit a further 0.09s shy of his team-mate. Alexander Albon, Mick Schumacher, both Aston Martins and Esteban Ocon were the first drivers to hit the track in FP2 as the field stuck initially to the medium and hard compound tyre. The Ferrari driver and pre-event championship leader picked up his form from FP1 by also running to the top in the second of the hour-long Friday practice sessions at Barcelona.

Charles Leclerc topped Friday practice for Ferrari at the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix. Here's how and when to watch qualifying.

For the entire 2022 F1 season, Channel 4 will broadcast highlights of every qualifying and race of each event. Sky Sports can also be accessed through NOW with a one-off day payment of £11.98p or a month membership of £33.99p per month. Live streaming through NOW is also available in the UK.

Fernando Alonso has explosively accused the Formula 1 stewards at the recent Miami Grand Prix of “incompetence” and sees no improvement in the ...

“And I don’t think that knowledge is in place at the moment. “We just need to keep improving that. And I think that will already improve things. “So, it was very bad and honestly… They were not even in the room. I think Freitas has a lot more experience with WEC and with other categories at the top level.

The Alpine driver highlighted incidents at Miami where the stewards “were not very professional” and that he hasn't seen any improvement from the FIA this ...

So we arrive after the race with all the proofs, and all the time back that we gave, and they were just packing up,” Alonso said. The important thing is that we’re able to race, and I will be able to race as well.” And I don’t think that that knowledge is in place at the moment.” “They saw the pink color, and yeah, they took the decision without asking any proofs. “So, when you don’t have that knowledge of racing, it’s difficult to talk.” Although a new era has begun in Formula One, there have been moments the stewards and race directors have arguably fallen short.

F1 points leader Charles Leclerc paced Spanish Grand Prix practices while the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell seem to be improving.

He said “something’s broke” as his Alfa Romeo ground to a stop in the grass. Race officials expect more than 110,000 fans to turn out for each of the event’s three days after two years of racing without the public due to the pandemic. The Barcelona-Catalunya track is notorious for being tough on tires. We can get it in even better shape tomorrow so we can tackle the guys up ahead.” But he was encouraged by the car’s apparent improvements. Leclerc topped the time charts in both hourlong sessions.

'Not quickest… yet': F1 juggernaut awakens; Aston embroiled in cheat claims: Talking Points.

“We clearly aren’t where we want to be on the timesheets, but there’s a lot to dive into tonight,” he said. “It has been a bit tricky to find the right balance with the heat, and we still have a lot of work to do over one lap,” Verstappen said. Previously one of the slowest in a straight line, on Friday it was fastest in the speed trap. The rest of the midfield is similarly unclear. It had been experimenting with set-up but nonetheless couldn’t understand the apparent step forward — and its lack of confidence was justified on Saturday when the car reverted to type. “We have some work to do, in particular on our race pace and on tyre management,” Leclerc said. The team’s list of upgrades appeared subtle but has added up to something significant. Red Bull Racing has the opposite problem. Tyre degradation was high for all cars, but Ferrari seemed to suffer particularly badly, at least in comparison to Red Bull Racing. However, it’s a little unlike Alpine to carry qualifying pace over to race pace this season, and the French team will be wary that not only did McLaren do little long running, but it didn’t complete a meaningful stint on the medium compound, which will be key to the race given the scale of degradation this weekend. “Some things were working well, and I think the team are happy with some of the improvements.” Ferrari and Red Bull Racing remain locked in a tight fight at the front — which is at least encouraging for Ferrari after it seemed to fall behind in recent races — but it’s the suddenly closer Mercedes that caught the most attention.

The system, which involves the driver opening a flap in their rear wing to reduce drag levels and gain top speed when running within a second of a car in front, ...

When it was first introduced to FIA F3 in 2017 – when the series was known as GP3 – drivers could only activate and use the system on a maximum of six laps per feature race and four laps for sprint events. This is typically deployed as a bid to reduce the chance of being overhauled by a car chasing behind with DRS active by the end of an activation zone. A famous example of a DRS failure leading to a crash occurred at the 2018 Italian GP, where Ericsson crashed heavily at Monza’s first chicane as the DRS on his Sauber car did not close as expected when he braked at high-speed. The attacking driver will manually activate DRS by pressing a steering wheel button – this can be arranged on the front or back of the steering wheel depending on driver preference. This can lead to big accidents given DRS zones usually finish at the end of long straights or acceleration zones. If the following car is measured at running less than one second behind, a signal is sent to the car, allowing its DRS to be activated in the ensuing zone. This meant the highest number of DRS zones used in an F1 qualifying or race session remains three. Defending drivers can only activate DRS if they too are within one second of a car in front. This, allied with the championship reaching greater engine performance parity ahead of a rules alteration in that area of the cars for 2026, means DRS continues to have a major impact in overtaking manoeuvres. DRS continued to be used in the turbo hybrid era, which dramatically altered F1’s competitive order up to the end of 2021. But DRS is not a simple ‘overtake button’ that automatically means getting past the car in front. It allows drivers to increase straightline speed by dumping rear wing drag through a slot that can be opened when a car is running within one second of the car in front.

Recommended · Length: 4.675km · Laps: 66 · Race lap record: 1:18.149 (Max Verstappen, 2021) · 2021 winner: Lewis Hamilton ...

This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Here is everything you need to know:

Barcelona plays host to the sixth round of the 2022 Formula 1 season. Here's how you can watch qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Viewers from selected countries can subscribe to F1 TV to stream qualifying on a device of their choice. - Denmark - TV3 / TV3 Sport / Viaplay Can’t find your country or region in the list?

Formula One heads to Barcelona this weekend for a Spanish Grand Prix which promises to continue an enthralling 2022 season.

Charles Leclerc dominated the opening two practice sessions to suggest Ferrari’s new upgrades will help take the title fight to Red Bull. What time is the F1 Spanish Grand Prix? When is the F1 Spanish Grand Prix?

Charles Leclerc says he will “think twice” about driving historic Formula 1 cars again in the future after crashing one of Niki Lauda's classic Ferraris in ...

“I got to meet Niki a few times in the paddock in the past and yeah, they are just legends of our sports, of course it’s always amazing to be driving their cars.” “I think also it’s great to experience what it was like and what it’s like now, it’s very different now, it’s so much faster but it’s also so much safer and we don’t have the safety in mind as much as they probably did once they were racing. “Obviously there was a shakedown of this car the Thursday before and yeah, the failure that happened was on a screw of the brake pads and it’s impossible to know.

The upgrade package introduced by Aston Martin ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix is one of the most extensive on show in Barcelona, much of which draws ...

But whereas the RB18’s wing mirror sits astride the outer sidepod boundary winglet, the AMR22’s does not as it remains independent of it. For example, the RB18 has an extended lip ahead of the inlet, which creates an open top, increasing the volume of air that can be captured but the AMR22’s version does not. Photo by: Giorgio Piola

The upgrade package introduced by Aston Martin ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix is one of the most extensive on show in Barcelona, much of which draws ...

But whereas the RB18’s wing mirror sits astride the outer sidepod boundary winglet, the AMR22’s does not – it remains independent of it. For example, the RB18 has an extended lip ahead of the inlet, which creates an open top, increasing the volume of air that can be captured – but the AMR22’s version does not. Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Aston Martin has denied suggestions that it got hold of illegal Red Bull data to help it with its Spanish Grand Prix Formula 1 upgrades.

And I think that was confirmation of that.” “They have come in and looked and then declared that it’s all legitimate independent work. But I think that just reinforced our feeling at the time that, of the two paths that that we had open to us, we'd gone the wrong way. So I think the accusations are very wide of the mark.” “All I can say is that at no stage did we ever receive any data from any team or anyone. “It's not just Dan Fallows,” Marko told Sky Germany. “There is evidence that data was downloaded.

Ferrari has been forced into changing the chassis for Carlos Sainz's Formula 1 car ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix due to a fuel system issue that emerged ...

Despite topping the timesheets in FP2 for Ferrari, Leclerc was uneasy about the team’s long-run pace, having complained that his tyres were struggling. At the same time, I think we didn't do the right steps going into FP2 and we we made ourselves a bit slower. Ferrari debuted a number of updates for its F1-75 car on Friday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which Sainz felt had “definitely got potential” as the team looked to get back in contention against Red Bull at the front of the pack.

Formula 1's regulations outlaws teams from 'reverse engineering' another car's concept, a method that Aston Martin has denied doing. The FIA has asserted that ...

The biggest thing that we want to ensure that our IP is protected and hasn’t been abused.” “So it’s very much their job to police that. “We will have an internal investigation.

Max Verstappen's victory in Miami reduced Charles Leclerc's lead at the top of the drivers' standings to just 19 points but it was the Ferrari driver who was ...

Mercedes has done a step forward, no doubt, but Red Bull is at the max.” “We still have some bouncing but it is way better and we are starting to eke into the potential of the car. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. George Russell finished second in practice, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was buoyed by the progress after consistently struggling with the car’s porpoising issue. “It is the first time we have driven down the straight without bouncing,” he said. The world champion has been on the team radio to complain that the front of the car is difficult to position on entry to corners in Spain. We just need to fine-tune them.” Follow all the action from practice and qualifying below: FP3 will be drawing to a close in a matter of moments, and half a second is seperating the top six drivers from three different teams. The chequered flag is out and Saturday’s practice session has come to an end, with Charles Leclerc completing a hat-trick for Ferrari as he finishes top of the leaderboard once again, just as he did in both runs on Friday. The championship leader has an advantage of just under a tenth-of-a-second to current champion Max Verstappen, who is then followed by Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in third and fourth. Both Silver Arrows cars have regularly been around a second off the pace in qualifying so far this season, but both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have been within touching distance of championship leader Leclerc in FP2 and FP3 after Mercedes brought a raft of upgrades to Spain. There were also encouraging signs for Mercedes after it was revealed the team had been testing new upgrades to their car at a filming day earlier this week.

The final practice session gets underway before qualifying in Spain today. Ferrari's performance in the opening two sessions certainly suggests they're ...

There was drama further down the grid when Mick Schumacher’s right rear brakes caught on fire. He couldn’t stop coming into the garage and took out one of his pitcrew before extinguishers were used to put out the flames. Hamilton, meanwhile, had spoken of his happiness with the progress Mercedes have made this season and that certainly appeared to be the case with a good day for the team in Saturday’s last practice session.

Minute-by-minute updates for Saturday's FP3 and qualifying sessions for the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Charles Leclerc narrowly pipped Max Verstappen in final practice ahead of Formula 1's 2022 Spanish Grand Prix as Mercedes' apparent improvement returned ...

Behind Sainz and Perez, Norris effectively claimed the 'best of the rest' accolade as he ran to seventh courtesy of a 1m20.403s effort to sit ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Bottas. Leclerc then reemerged for his second full-tilt run on the soft tyre and duly improved to 1m19.772s to set the eventual yardstick, even if falling a tenth shy of his second practice benchmark. Perez, however, could only manage a 1m20.260s to fall behind Sainz in sixth thanks to Hamilton's improvement to fourth on a 1m20.002s, running 0.09s shy of Russell - who had nabbed the best first sector of the session - with 10 minutes to run. The Ferrari driver posted a 1m20.278s to sit top after his first attempt but was two tenths slower on his second effort even though he remained in first place ahead of Verstappen and Sainz. Ricciardo's teammate Lando Norris had been the first driver to head out in the session and he immediately delivered a five-lap stint on medium tyres to bed in his new chassis. Ferrari's points leader used his later soft tyre run to turn in a 1m19.772s and he ended the session just seven hundredths in front of his likely end-of-season title rival Verstappen.

Sergio Perez was down in sixth, followed by Lando Norris, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon. With Verstappen only 0.072 seconds behind ...

The sound in the grandstand has diminished a little since the surprise exit of Fernando Alonso from the opening qualifying session. The stewards noted an incident involving Alonso and Lando Norris but the Briton has been cleared of impeding his rival. There was drama further down the grid when Mick Schumacher’s right rear brakes caught on fire.

Formula 1 has been trialling innovative robots that can roam around the paddock to connect hospitalised fans who cannot attend the race with their racing ...

Awabot works closely with the Eric Abidal Foundation which works to promote the well-being of young people fighting against cancer. He is able to drive the robot remotely using his eyes, allowing him to explore the paddock via the technology. The AI technology has already been used by FC Barcelona, Paris-Saint Germain and at the FIA gala dinner in 2021.

Ferrari driver Leclerc was quickest, but Max Verstappen and the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton showed pace ahead of qualifying too by ...

12) Lance Stroll 10) Yuki Tsunoda 12) Sebastian Vettel 10) Esteban Ocon 3) George Russell 1) Charles Leclerc

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said Red Bull were investigating the issue 'in great detail'

But you also have to take into account that seven people were poached from us and that our chief aerodynamicist was brought to Aston Martin for a disproportionate amount of money. Now Marko, who overseees Red Bull’s young driver programme and attends race weekends, says evidence suggests that Aston Martin’s redesign has come about via the downloading of confidential Red Bull data by staff members who have switched between the teams. Motorsport governing body the FIA approved the design during an inspection earlier this week, but Red Bull released a statement on Friday in which they implied they do not consider the matter to be closed.

Mercedes say their Spanish GP update has improved their W13, but the team is not yet sure whether it will stick with its current car concept.

“I think we’ve changed the car so much for this weekend we need to work out how we get the best out of it. “There’s the sort of normal development of the car that you would do anyway and then I think we’ve done quite a bit of work to try and understand the bouncing effects, to work out how we best mitigate those. “But we’ve got to have a level of humility. “The package we brought here we’re definitely able to run the car in a position much more close to where we’d ideally run it. The body language is coming from them that says they feel the car is a bit more like a race car. The car seemed a lot more settled, it did what we were hoping it to do.”

Aston Martin has denied suggestions that it got hold of illegal Red Bull data to help it with its Spanish Grand Prix Formula 1 upgrades.

And I think that was confirmation of that.” “They have come in and looked and then declared that it’s all legitimate independent work. But I think that just reinforced our feeling at the time that, of the two paths that that we had open to us, we'd gone the wrong way. So I think the accusations are very wide of the mark.” “All I can say is that at no stage did we ever receive any data from any team or anyone. What he has in his head...copying is not prohibited in the approach.

Red Bull is not currently planning any further action with the FIA over Aston Martin's Formula 1 car, instead focusing on an internal investigation to find ...

It means our concept is not so bad.” That is the main asset of the team. “We just want to be sure that we protect ourselves, and on the budget cap, the main aspect of the budget is IP, and we want to make sure that how we spend our money is secure and our assets are secure,” he said.

Charles Leclerc recovered from a spin to land a remarkable pole position for Formula 1's 2022 Spanish Grand Prix as Max Verstappen was hurt by a final-lap ...

Williams/Mercedes Williams/Mercedes Aston Martin/Mercedes McLaren/Mercedes Aston Martin/Mercedes McLaren/Mercedes That left Alonso prey as the customary flurry of improved times landed late on. He then locked all four tyres bringing the car to a stop. Alfa Romeo/Ferrari Haas/Ferrari Haas/Ferrari Alfa Romeo/Ferrari

Charles Leclerc salvaged his fourth F1 pole position of the season after a stunning final lap in Spanish GP qualifying, with Max Verstappen left to bemoan a ...

10) Mick Schumacher 9) Daniel Ricciardo 8) Kevin Magnussen 6) Lewis Hamilton 4) George Russell 3) Carlos Sainz 2) Max Verstappen 1) Charles Leclerc Mercedes, on the other hand, will probably be a bit disappointed with the final timesheets given their encouraging pace through the session. The Dutchman had capitalised on Leclerc's spin to take provisional pole, but when trying to respond to the Ferrari's lap reported "no power" at the start of his lap. It was not without its scares, thanks to a spin at Turn 14 as he came into the corner with too much speed. Either way, he said Verstappen would have struggled to edge out Leclerc.

Charles Leclerc narrowly pipped Max Verstappen in final practice ahead of Formula 1's 2022 Spanish Grand Prix as Mercedes' apparent improvement returned ...

Similarly, Sainz was sporting a new chassis for his F1-75 following a fuel system issue. Behind Sainz and Perez, Norris effectively claimed the ‘best of the rest’ accolade as he ran to seventh courtesy of a 1m20.403s effort to sit ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Bottas. Leclerc then remerged for his second full-tilt run on the soft tyre and duly improved to 1m19.772s to set the eventual yardstick, even if falling a tenth shy of his second practice benchmark. The Ferrari driver posted a 1m20.278s to sit top after his first attempt but was two tenths slower on his second effort even though he remained in first place ahead of Verstappen and Sainz. Ricciardo’s team-mate Lando Norris had been the first driver to head out in the session and he immediately delivered a five-lap stint on medium tyres to bed in his new chassis. Ferrari’s points leader used his late soft tyre run to turn in a 1m19.772s and he ended the session just seven hundredths in front of his likely end-of-season title rival Verstappen.

Full Q1, Q2 and Q3 results from F1 qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix, Round 6 of the 2022 F1 world championship.

2022 F1 Spanish Grand Prix - QUALIFYING RESULTS F1 2022 Spanish Grand Prix - Full Qualifying Results Full Q1, Q2 and Q3 results from F1 qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix, Round 6 of the 2022 F1 world championship.

Charles Leclerc recovered from a spin to land a remarkable pole position for Formula 1's 2022 Spanish Grand Prix as Max Verstappen was hurt by a final-lap ...

That left Alonso prey as the customary flurry of improved times landed late on. He then locked all four tyres bringing the car to a stop. Alpine driver Alonso, preparing for his home race, was forced to back out of his final flying lap thanks in part to early traffic from Norris, however the stewards did not to intervene. George Russell led the renewed effort from Mercedes with fourth place as he nipped ahead of Sergio Perez, while Lewis Hamilton ran to sixth after his first Q3 lap was hurt by oversteer out of the final corner. Comfortable Q2 pacesetter Verstappen had not long delivered a crushing run through the final sector to extract a four tenth advantage on his first flying lap in the final part of qualifying to post a 1m19.073s. The Ferrari driver had it all to do in the last part of qualifying after spinning at the penultimate corner during his banker lap in Q3 but then the points leader stunned on his second attempt.

Charles Leclerc has taken provisional pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix.

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Mercedes' Formula 1 technical director Mike Elliott believes it is “too early” to rule whether it is best to develop its current car concept despite taking ...

We’ve brought bits which have definitely settled the car down. “We’ve changed the car so much for this weekend that we need to work out how we get the best out of it. “The package we’ve brought here, we were definitely able to run the car in a position much more close to where we’d like to ideally run it.

Toto Wolff believes his Mercedes Formula 1 team can finally start catching up to Red Bull and Ferrari after solving its car's crippling porpoising issues.

"It's an aerodynamic effect that's created from the floor swinging and it was difficult to come to that conclusion in a scientific way. And that's great." Mercedes endured a nightmare start to the ground-effect era with a car that suffered from wild porpoising, which forced the team to run its car higher than it wanted.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says that the Silver Arrows' improved performance in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix has come about because the ...

I couldn’t hope for a better driver pairing, and the pace is there.” “We were [still] six tenths to Leclerc [at the end of qualifying]. This is miles away still in qualifying terms. Lewis says that the car finally drivers like a Formula 1 car, and this is the best feedback you can get from a driver.