Spanish Grand Prix 2022 first practice live: Latest times and updates from Barcelona

Hello and welcome to coverage of first practice for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

As it is his home race, all eyes will be on Carlos Sainz, who is still waiting to win his first grand prix.

The Ferrari driver will be aiming to end his 146-race wait and make his mark on the drivers championship after being outperformed by his  team mate Charles Leclerc, who has won two of five races so far and tops the standings at this early stage.

Sainz has always scored points at the Circuit de Catalunya and the last time Ferrari won there it was with a Spanish driver –Fernando Alonso in 2013.

“The goal, as in every other race weekend, is to extract the maximum out of our car and try to win the Grand Prix,” said Sainz, who has been on the podium three times this year.

“I know we will receive massive support from every grandstand at the track and I can guarantee the fans maximum effort from myself and from the entire team, to give them plenty to cheer about.”

Leclerc is 51 points ahead of Sainz but only 19 clear of Max Verstappen, who has won the last two races in his Red Bull.

The race marks the real start of the European season, despite a race at Italy’s Imola circuit last month, and is the point at which teams unveil their updates.

“Hopefully we can keep the momentum going from the last few races with a clean start from Friday onwards,” Verstappen said.

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are also hopeful of progress after a troubling start to the season.

“A huge amount of hard work has been going on in the factories to unpick the data from Miami and turn it into improvements for Barcelona,” said team boss Toto Wolff.

“Having run there in winter testing, albeit with a car that has evolved a lot since then, it will be a good place to correlate the information we have on the current car and we’re hopeful that we’ll make another step forward.”

Hamilton has won six times in Barcelona, including the last five, but hopes of extending that run are slim.