Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two during opening practice for the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya.
Vettel clocked a 1m23.951 on a set of Pirelli’s soft tyres to top the 90-minute session, +0.138s clear of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
The Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were third and fourth, half a second shy of Vettel’s pace-setting Ferrari, albeit running on the medium compound rubber.
Daniel Ricciardo was fifth, ahead of new team-mate Max Verstappen, the Dutch racer sixth quickest on his first run in Red Bull Racing’s RB12.
Carlos Sainz Jr split the Williams cars of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa in eighth, with Fernando Alonso rounding out the top-10 for McLaren-Honda.
Renault’s Kevin Magnussen was 11th, ahead of Daniil Kvyat, 12th on his return to Toro Rosso.
Nico Hulkenberg was the best of the Force Indias in 13th, ahead of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr, the two Haas cars of Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez, Marcus Ericsson and team-mate Sergio Perez.
Jenson Button was a lowly 19th for McLaren, with the two Manors propping up the timeheets in 20th and 21st, Pascal Wehrlein a second clear of team-mate Rio Haryanto.
Esteban Ocon, standing in for Jolyon Palmer at Renault for first practice, completed six laps but failed to set a time after an issue.
Discussion about this post