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Valtteri Bottas leads disrupted FP1 session in Barcelona

Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas led the way in Friday morning's first free practice session in Barcelona, edging out by a comfortable margin team mate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

The session was marked by a fair number of clumsy spins and visits to the gravel trap for many drivers who appeared to caught out by the lack of grip of Pirelli's tyres.

Spanish Grand Prix - Free Practice 1

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:18.148s		32
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:18.997s	+ 0.849s	22
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:19.098s	+ 0.950s	24
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:19.187s	+ 1.039s	26
5	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:19.499s	+ 1.351s	19
6	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:19.858s	+ 1.710s	26
7	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:19.871s	+ 1.723s	11
8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:19.906s	+ 1.758s	24
9	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:20.083s	+ 1.935s	28
10	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	1:20.508s	+ 2.360s	29
11	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:20.637s	+ 2.489s	28
12	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	1:20.665s	+ 2.517s	23
13	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1:20.924s	+ 2.776s	36
14	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:20.984s	+ 2.836s	18
15	Carlos Sainz	Renault	1:21.053s	+ 2.905s	28
16	Esteban Ocon	Force India	1:21.144s	+ 2.996s	27
17	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:21.159s	+ 3.011s	26
18	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	1:21.373s	+ 3.225s	28
19	Robert Kubica	Williams	1:21.510s	+ 3.362s	24
20	Lance Stroll	Williams	1:22.756s	+ 4.608s	15

The European leg of the 2018 F1 season kicked off under a clear blue Spanish sky and warms temperatures in Barcelona, with a session where everyone was eager to trial their various upgrades and updates.

Williams saw Robert Kubica on duty for his first of three FP1 sessions that he'll be enjoying this year, the Pole temporarily replacing Sergey Sirotkin. He was quite logically one of the first to venture out when the lights went green.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne were also quick to get to work at the wheel their modified MCL33 which sports a whole new and striking nose assembly.

The early part of the sessions was marked by several off-track excursions, with Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas, Marcus Ericsson, Brendon Hartley and Romain Grosjean all visiting the gravel traps, fortunately without any consequence.

Bottas recovered quickly to put himself at the top of the timesheet after the first 30 minutes, with Hamilton and Vettel hot on his heels.

Shortly after however, the session was under the control of the VSC when Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo put his RB14 in the barriers at the Turn 4 right-hander.

When the session resumed it was but a short respite as Williams Lance Stroll lost it at Turn 5, prompting another virtual safety car.

The free practice run concluded with Bottas, setting his time on the soft compound, remaining on top from Hamilton and Vettel, the Finn achieving in the process a new lap record of the Circuit de Catalunya.

Max Verstappen ended the morning fourth, in front of Kimi Raikkonen, while Alonso validated his McLaren's updates with the sixth fastest time.

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Michael Delaney