Lewis Hamilton set the pace in Friday practice at the Spanish Grand Prix as Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull looked closely matched.
The seven-time champion was just 0.022 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, with McLaren’s Lando Norris third, just 0.055secs off the pace.
However, the risks of making assumptions about competitive form from Friday practice were underlined by Pierre Gasly’s Alpine setting the fourth-fastest time.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, complaining of a lack of front grip, was fifth ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Mercedes’ George Russell.
In the first session, Norris set the pace from Verstappen.
The race-simulation times later in the second session also suggested that the top teams were closely matched, with Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren all setting similar pace.
Verstappen had the edge, but while their rivals did their race runs predominantly on the soft tyres, Red Bull chose mediums for Verstappen so his times could not be compared.
But with the usual caveats that apply to practice, there does appear to be a four-car battle at the front, which would be especially encouraging for Mercedes.
The eight-time champions have been adding a series of upgrades to their car and were looking to this weekend’s race at Barcelona hoping that it would prove they were finally on the right track with development.
Hamilton said: “The car was feeling great today. Doesn’t feel like we are too much off. I won’t take too much notice of lap times but the car is definitely in a better place and we’ll see if we can hold on to the Ferraris and Red Bulls and McLarens.
“We have a much better idea of where we want to go. You’re starting to see it in how comfortable we are as drivers in the car.”
Norris said: “A pretty good day. Never easy in the hot conditions. It never feels amazing – the tyres overheat very quickly so it is difficult to get everything in the perfect window.
“But all in all a good start to the weekend, I felt pretty comfortable with the car from the beginning, I am sure it is going to be close again like it was [at the last race] in Canada.”
Verstappen said: “We tried a few different set-ups. It’s just trying to fine-tune a little bit, the day was a bit more normal without any issues and that’s what we were hoping for and now it’s about trying to tidy up a little bit the car.”
Red Bull and Ferrari both have significant upgrades on their cars for the start of a run of races in the European heartland of Formula 1.
Both Ferrari drivers said the upgrade had worked as intended but that they needed to improve their long-run pace particularly for the race weekend.
Leclerc said: “There is plenty to improve. I have a very clear vision on what we need to do on the car to make it better and I am confident tomorrow will be a step forward.”
Spain is the first of races on three consecutive weekends, followed by Austria and Silverstone, before a week’s gap and then Hungary and Belgium back to back before the sport has its August break.
