George Russell was fastest from Oscar Piastri as championship leader Kimi Antonelli was left frustrated with traffic after final practice at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Russell was two tenths faster than Piastri to establish himself as firm favourite for qualifying, which takes place later on Saturday at 3pm (build-up from 2.15pm), live on Sky Sports F1 and Main Event.
The British driver has failed to score points in the last two grands prix, so is hoping to make inroads into his 68-point deficit to Antonelli, who hit out at traffic during final practice.
Antonelli was twice forced to abort his flying lap towards the end of the session as other cars got in his way, leaving him seventh in the classification and slightly on the backfoot as he did not complete a full lap at qualifying speed.
“Oh my god, mate. It’s unbelievable! Why do I always get traffic?! I don’t understand, everyone always in the lap,” he said on the radio.
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On the The F1 Show podcast, Craig Slater and David Croft discuss George Russell’s recent run of bad luck, but say he needs to raise his performance to get back into the fight with Kimi Antonelli
It was in contrast to Russell, who had a beaming smile after getting out of the car, as Mercedes hit back following McLaren’s strong Friday pace where Lando Norris was quickest in second practice.
Charles Leclerc was 0.243s behind Russell in the upgraded Ferrari, while Norris was 0.246s off the pace – both teams losing time to Mercedes in the middle sector which features some long-radius corners.
Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok said: “It’s gone well for George so far this weekend.
“Antonelli wasn’t in FP1, but Russell looked comfortable and competitive from the first run, which wasn’t the case in Miami, Canada or Monaco. This is a much more encouraging weekend for George.”
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Valtteri Bottas suffered brake failure in final practice at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Lewis Hamilton’s difficult weekend continued as he was seven tenths behind Russell in fifth, with Max Verstappen in sixth which confirmed Red Bull are not set to contend for the top positions.
The other Red Bull of Isack Hadjar was eighth, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg continued to have a strong weekend in ninth and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad was 10th.
There was a scary moment for Valtteri Bottas after he suffered a brake failure and beached his Cadillac in the gravel at Turn 10, causing the only red flag of the weekend so far.
Sky Sports F1’s Barcelona-Catalunya GP schedule
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Ahead of this weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, we take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments from previous races at the circuit
Saturday June 13
1.10pm: F2 Sprint*
2.15pm: Barcelona-Catalunya GP Qualifying build-up*
3pm: BARCELONA-CATALUNYA GP QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday June 14
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: Porsche Supercup
10.20am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Barcelona-Catalunya GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: THE BARCELONA-CATALUNYA GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Barcelona-Catalunya GP reaction: Chequered Flag
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
*Also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 is in Spain for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix with live coverage on Sky Sports F1. Sunday’s race starts at 2pm. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
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