Valtteri Bottas led the way for Mercedes in opening practice for the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday despite being sidelined later in the session by an oil leak. Formula 1 drivers’ championship leader Bottas laid down a benchmark of 1m17.951s on the Soft compound tyre for his rivals to try and beat, with the Finn ultimately ending the session fastest.
Bottas put in two laps good enough to finish fastest as Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel could only finish one-tenth of a second behind in second place on the same tyre compound, narrowly ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc. The Maranello team’s drivers looked particularly quick in the first two sections of the circuit, but seemed to loose in the final sector, which is all about slow speed corners: entry to slow speed corners the Mercedes has been really strong, as Bottas made up a lot of ground in that twisty final sector, which used to trouble Mercedes.
Second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix begins at 3pm local time (2pm BST).
Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 Results
1. Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport 1m17.951s
2. Sebastian Vettel GER Scuderia Ferrari + 0.115s
3. Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari + 0.221s
4. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport + 0.624s
5. Romain Grosjean FRA Rich Energy Haas F1 Team + 0.992s
6. Carlos Sainz ESP McLaren F1 Team + 1.204s
7. Kevin Magnussen DEN Rich Energy Haas F1 Team + 1.229s
8. Pierre Gasly FRA Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda + 1.334s
9. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda + 1.413s
10. Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault F1 Team + 1.499s
11. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Renault F1 Team + 1.560s
12. Max Verstappen NED Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda + 1.893s
13. Lance Stroll CAN SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team + 1.904s
14. Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo Racing + 2.070s
15. Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team + 2.079s
16. Alexander Albon THA Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda + 2.115s
17. Sergio Perez MEX SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team + 2.508s
18. Kimi Raikkonen ITA Alfa Romeo Racing + 2.640s
19. Robert Kubica POL ROKiT Williams Racing + 2.938s
20. George Russell GBR ROKiT Williams Racing + 3.039s
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