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Lewis Hamilton ends FP1 on top

Published on 12 May 2017 11:31
1
By: Fergal Walsh

The first practice session from Barcelona has ended with Brit Lewis Hamilton on top, as he set a lap time of 1:21.521 in his Mercedes. The Silver Arrows will be hoping to keep the lurking Ferrari's and Red Bull's behind this weekend, as most teams come to Spain with the first major updates on their cars.

Bouncing off his first career win in Formula 1, Valtteri Bottas ended the first session of the weekend marginally behind teammate Hamilton. The two Mercedes' were around a second faster than closest challengers Ferrari, as Kimi Raikkonen slotted into third.

Sebastian Vettel was fourth and had quite a rough session, as he was forced to pull trackside with a gearbox issue. The German's problems didn't last too long and he was able to get back out on track.

? TOP TEN: END OF FP1 ?

1 HAM ?
2 BOT
3 RAI
4 VET
5 VER
6 RIC
7 MAG
8 GRO
9 HUL
10 SAI#FP1 ___Escaped_link_6628ce014ee26___ ?? pic.twitter.com/HLJrGlywfV
— Formula 1 (@F1) ___Escaped_link_6628ce014ee28___

Max Verstappen's fastest time put him close behind Vettel, as the second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo was around half a second behind Verstappen. Red Bull will be hoping that this weekend will show their true competitiveness as they attempt to pull in around 1.3 seconds to their rivals.

The two by two's continued with seventh and eighth place, as Haas started their weekend in strong fashion pace-wise. There wasn't much time between the drivers, but Kevin Magnussen finished ahead of French teammate Romain Grosjean. However, Magnussen ended up in the gravel at the end of the session with an apparent gearbox problem.

Nico Hulkenberg ended ninth while the other Renault featured Sergey Sirotkin instead of Jolyon Palmer, who will return in the afternoon session. Sirotkin's outing was met with more gremlins, a repetition of what happened last time out in FP1 in Sochi.

Carlos Sainz rounded out the top ten and had a much smoother run than teammate Daniil Kvyat who was only able to emerge from the pitlane later in the session. Fernando Alonso appears to have another miserable weekend on his hands, as the Spaniard retired from running early on due to an oil leak.

Agony for @alo_oficial (and his fans) - smoke and oil pouring from his McLarenF1">@McLarenF1 #SpanishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/2ChY1RjqoR
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 12, 2017

Fergal Walsh

F1Grand Prix Spain - Free practice 1

Circuit de Catalunya - 12 May 2017

Driver

Team

Time

Difference

#
1

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:21.521

28
2

Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes

1:21.550

+0.029

30
3

Kimi Räikkönen

Ferrari

1:22.456

+0.935

24
4

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari

1:22.600

+1.079

23
5

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

1:22.706

+1.185

22
6

Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull Racing

1:23.084

+1.563

17
7

Kevin Magnussen

Haas F1

1:23.670

+2.149

22
8

Romain Grosjean

Haas F1

1:23.758

+2.237

23
9

Nico Hülkenberg

Renault

1:23.993

+2.472

24
10

Carlos Sainz jr

Toro Rosso

1:24.004

+2.483

21
11

Sergio Perez

Force India

1:24.188

+2.667

23
12

Esteban Ocon

Force India

1:24.324

+2.803

22
13

Stoffel Vandoorne

McLaren

1:24.400

+2.879

24
14

Felipe Massa

Williams

1:24.618

+3.097

34
15

Daniil Kvyat

Toro Rosso

1:24.642

+3.121

18
16

Marcus Ericsson

Sauber

1:24.966

+3.445

23
17

Pascal Wehrlein

Sauber

1:25.182

+3.661

24
18

Lance Stroll

Williams

1:25.919

+4.398

34
19

Sergey Sirotkin

Renault

1:26.293

+4.772

10
20

Fernando Alonso

McLaren

no time

1

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F1 News Max Verstappen Fernando Alonso Valtteri Bottas Romain Grosjean Daniel Ricciardo Daniil Kvyat Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel Kimi Räikkönen Jolyon Palmer Kevin Magnussen Sergey Sirotkin Ferrari Mercedes Renault