F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Bottas and Mercedes on top mid-day in Barcelona

Valtteri Bottas led the field mid-day at the Circuit de Catalunya on the opening day of pre-season testing, the Mercedes driver leading Racing Point's Sergio Perez and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

Bottas clocked in after a trouble-free morning with a 1m17.313 that edged Perez by just 0.062s.

Verstappen put 91 laps under his belt, the most of any driver, as he put his new RB16 through its paces.

There were surprisingly no stoppages during the session, with the teams' contenders demonstrating solid reliability from the outset.

However, Haas' Kevin Magnussen suffered a spin at Turn 9 just before the lunch break, but the Dane's car fortunately incurred no damage.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was unexpectedly on duty for the Scuderia, the Monegasque replacing an unwell Sebastian Vettel.

In the Williams camp, a trouble-free run for George Russell and the FW43 was a stark contrast to the belated and troubled debut endured by the team last year in pre-season testing.

The Brit, who completed a total of 73 laps, ended the morning P6 and a tenth faster than Leclerc and a couple of tenths ahead of Alfa Romeo reserve driver Robert Kubica.

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Williams explain power trick that could define F1 in 2026

Formula 1’s next generation of cars will not just look different – they will sound…

3 hours ago

Horner weighs in on explosive 2026 F1 engine controversy

Christian Horner has waded into Formula 1’s latest technical storm, addressing the growing controversy over…

4 hours ago

Newey: AI has been shaping F1 ‘for a long time’

Aston Martin’s chief architect and team principal Adrian Newey believes Formula 1’s latest buzzword is…

6 hours ago

Norris gets a pole-position welcome at old primary school

Fresh from pre-season testing and with a world title now stitched onto his racing overalls,…

7 hours ago

Two on the trot for Laffite and Ligier in Brazil

On this day in 1979, Jacques Laffite won the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos as…

8 hours ago

Russell hungry for ‘head-to-head’ title clash with Verstappen

George Russell is not hiding his appetite for a showdown this season in F1. In…

9 hours ago