Things to look out for in FP1!

We’re back in Barcelona, so as usual, it’s probably going to be one of the most interesting practice sessions of the season. Most teams, if not all, have major upgrades on their car and this year is no different. We take you through the things to look out for in FP1.

McLaren has a brand new front wing which they claim is revolutionary. To us, it looks as if they’ve selected the best parts of rival teams and stuck it all together. It’s certainly different to what we’ve seen before.

But will it work? We’ll get the first indications of this in FP1, providing they run with it. It won’t be clear-cut, because other teams will be different in terms of pace, but indications are expected.

Not so much ‘look to see if it’ll be any good’, but the mirrors are different on the Ferrari. They’ve attached them to the halo device. On first glance, it does look trickier to get in and out of the car, but other than that it looks pretty good.

Will others copy them? If there are no issues and the FIA continue to give them the green light, I don’t see why they wouldn’t. Obviously not straight away, but this session could be the first time we see something that’ll become common in years to come.

Another team to hold a myriad of upgrades, with a change in terms of design. A decent performance was managed in Baku but how lucky was this?

One of the biggest developing stories of the season. Should Kubica be given a permanent race seat in Williams? I guess we’ll never know, but he’ll be driving the Williams car in FP1 today.

The Williams has underperformed so far this season, and it could take a more experienced driver to identify some issues and faults. It’ll also be interesting to see if he beats Lance Stroll. More fuel will be added to the fire if he does!

As we experienced in pre-season, the track has been relayed and it’s completely different to normal. It’s smoother and because it’s darker, it holds more heat.

Pirelli has deiced to reduce thread on the tyres. This should mean the tyres perform for longer and not grain as badly as they did for cars in the winter.