Ferrari's Leclerc sweeps all three practices at Spanish GP

MONTMELÓ, Spain (AP) — Formula One points leader Charles Leclerc swept all three practices ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix and edged reigning world champion Max Verstappen in the final session ahead of Saturday qualifying.

The Ferrari driver was just 0.072 seconds faster than Verstappen of Red Bull. The Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were third and fourth fastest in the Saturday morning session.

Qualifying for Sunday's race was scheduled to follow the final practice session, held on a warm, sunny day at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Although large parts of Spain are under a heatwave alert with May temperatures that rank among the hottest in two decades, it was a manageable 32 C (89 F) during the morning practice.

The most heat came from the Haas of Mick Schumacher when his brakes failed and appeared to catch fire barely 15 minutes into the hourlong session.

Schumacher told his team by radio that “my brakes are burning, my rear brakes are burning” as he overshot his stop. Crew members quickly doused the flames spouting from the back right wheel with fire extinguishers.

Leclerc holds a 19-point lead over Verstappen after five races, but Verstappen has the momentum and is coming off consecutive victories at Imola and Miami. The Dutchman has three wins to Leclerc's two victories this season.

But Ferrari is one of several teams that arrived in Spain with upgrades to their 2022 cars and was hopeful the team can stop Verstappen on the 4.6-kilometer (2.8-mile) circuit.

Qualifying will be important as the pole sitter for this race has won 23 out of 31 times because the track has few passing zones.

Hamilton has won the Spanish GP six times, and for each of the past five years. But the seven-time world