Spanish GP: Free Practice #1 - Re-Cap & Times

SPANISH GP - FREE PRACTICE #1 - RE-CAP & TIMES

    Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in the first free practice session of the weekend, whilst championship leader Sebastian Vettel ran into problems.

    Vettel appeared to have a problem with his gearbox early in the session, and pulled to a stop at the pit exit. Ferrari claimed there was a problem with the rear left of the German’s car, though reporters at the track disputed the claims.

    Later in the session, Vettel was able to get back out on track, and finished the session fourth overall, behind team mate Kimi Raikkonen in third.

    Ferrari weren’t the only team to have difficulties in Barcelona.

    Surprisingly, Fernando Alonso managed two corners before he ran into problems. An oil leak led to him spinning and coming to a halt as smoke poured out of the rear of his McLaren Honda.

    McLaren were able to test their new aero devices with Stoffel Vandoorne, who managed a little more distance than Alonso and finished 13th in the timings.

    Other teams brought aero upgrades to Spain. Red Bull’s RB13 was expected to be drastically different to the car we saw in Sochi, but the team was still slower than Ferrari and McLaren. Max Verstappen in P5 set a time a tenth of a second behind Vettel, and more than a second slower than Valtteri Bottas in second.

    The session ended with yellow flags when Kevin Magnussen ran into the gravel at turn 4 and stopped on track. Up until that point, the Haas team had enjoyed a strong session, finishing 7th and 8th overall.

TIMES:

1. Lewis Hamilton - 1:21.521 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain
2. Valtteri Bottas - 1:21.550 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Finland
3. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:22.456 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland
4. Sebastian Vettel - 1:22.600 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany
5. Max Verstappen - 1:22.706 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Netherlands
6. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:23.084 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Australia
7. Kevin Magnussen - 1:23.670 / Haas-Ferrari / Denmark
8. Romain Grosjean - 1:23.758 / Haas-Ferrari / France
9. Nico Hulkenberg – 1:23.993 / Renault-Renault / Germany
10. Carlos Sainz - 1:24.004 / Toro Rosso-Renault / Spain
11. Sergio Perez - 1:24.188 / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico
12. Esteban Ocon - 1:24.324 / Force India-Mercedes / France
13. Stoffel Vandoorne - 1:24.400 / McLaren-Honda / Belgium
14. Felipe Massa - 1:24.618 / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil
15. Daniil Kvyat - 1:24.642 / Toro Rosso-Renault / Russia
16. Marcus Ericsson - 1:24.966 / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden
17. Pascal Wehrlein - 1:25.182 / Sauber-Ferrari / Germany
18. Lance Stroll - 1:25.919 / Williams-Mercedes / Canada
19. Sergey Sirotkin – 1:26.293 / Renault-Renault / Russia*
13. Fernando Alonso – NO TIME SET / McLaren-Honda / Spain

* - Notes driving in FP1 only

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Article Written By: Bethonie Waring
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