Mercedes fastest on first day in Barcelona, Red Bull with most laps

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas set two fastest times on the first day of Barcelona’s first Test and drove 151 laps together, but Max Verstappen gave Red Bull 161 laps to complete most laps out of all the teams.

The teams have two less days of testing this year than they did last year, but they all came well prepared and none completed less than 100 laps, which is one and a half distance of the whole race in Spain.

Hamilton drove the fastest time 1:16.976 in the afternoon, 1.1 seconds faster than Vettel on day one last year, using the second-hardest C2 component of the five compiunds available.

Bottas was second fastest using the C3 Pirelli tyres, and Perez, who was fastest for much of the morning part, finished third for Racing Point, which just today showed a new RP20 that is very similar to last year’s Mercedes.

Verstappen had a great day for Red Bull with the most laps of all drivers (161), but also had two spins in the last sector. He finished fourth fastest on the C3 tyres.

Kvyat was fifth fastest for Alpha Tauri Honda (116 laps) and Sainz in McLaren led three cars with Renault engines, finishing sixth in front of Renault drivers Ocon and Ricciardo, who drove 118 laps together.

Williams had an encouraging first day in Barcelona after Russell was first on the track of all drivers, setting the ninth fastest time, just 1.1 s behind the fastest Hamilton.

Stroll was 10th for Racing Point and Leclerc 11th for Ferrari, replacing Vettel, who was supposed to be driving the first day but was not feeling well.

Latifi drove 10 laps less than his team-mate Russell, but helped Williams who completed a total of 136 laps, finishing 12th fastest, 0.004 s ahead of Kubica in Alfa Romeo.

Magnussen was 14th fastest for Haas, which has the slowest time of the day, with Giovinazzi in Alpha at 15th and last of all drivers, 1.5 s behind Magnussen.

DAY 1 RESULTS

1	Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W11 EQ Performance / Mercedes F1 M11 EQ Performance	1:16.976 94	C2
2	Valtteri Bottas Mercedes F1 W11 EQ Performance / Mercedes F1 M11 EQ Performance	1:17.313 79	C3
3	Sergio Pérez Racing Point RP20 / Mercedes F1 M11 EQ Performance	1:17.375 58	C3
4	Max Verstappen Red Bull RB16 / Honda RA620H	1:17.516 168	C3
5	Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri AT01 / Honda RA620H	1:17.698 116	C2
6	Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren MCL35 / Renault E-Tech 20	1:17.842 161	C2
7	Daniel Ricciardo Renault R.S.20 / Renault E-Tech 20	1:17.873 56	C2
8	Esteban Ocon Renault R.S.20 / Renault E-Tech 20	1:18.004 62	C3
9	George Russell Williams FW43 / Mercedes F1 M11 EQ Performance	1:18.168 73	C3
10	Lance Stroll Racing Point RP20 / Mercedes F1 M11 EQ Performance	1:18.282 52	C2
11	Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF1000 / Ferrari 065	1:18.289 132	C3
12	Nicholas Latifi Williams FW43 / Mercedes F1 M11 EQ Performance	1:18.382 63	C4
13	Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo C39 / Ferrari 065	1:18.386 59	C3
14	Kevin Magnussen Haas VF-20 / Ferrari 065	1:18.466 106	C3
15	Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo C39 / Ferrari 065	1:20.096 79	C3