Valtteri Bottas went quickest in the first practice session for this weekend’s FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, as Lewis Hamilton finished in second place to complete a Mercedes one-two. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third. 

Bottas set a lap of 1:16.785 to beat championship-leading team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.039 seconds, while Verstappen finishing nine tenths behind the pacesetting Finn.

The session got off to a sluggish start and it was 20 minutes before the first meaningful lap of the morning was set. That came from Verstappen who posted a lap of 1:19.574 on hard compound tyres. Bottas the stole P1 with medium-tyre time of 1:18.573s before Hamilton went quickest on hard tyres with a lap of 1:18.516. 

The Mercedes pair then bolted on soft tyres and Bottas move back to the top of the order with a time of 1:16.785 that remained the benchmark until the chequered flag was shown. 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel held third and fourth places respectively until Verstappen sampled the red-banded tyres with a little less than 30 minutes remaining and displaced them with a lap of 1:17.724.

Romain Grosjean finished sixth for Haas, while Sergio Pérez marked his return for Racing Point after recovering from COVID-19 by claiming seventh place ahead of Red Bull’s Alex Albon.

Kevin Magnussen took ninth in the second Haas car and the top 10 was rounded out by Lance Stroll in the second Racing Point. 

2020 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Free Practice 1

1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:16.785 33 218.245
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:16.824 0.039 29 218.134
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:17.724 0.939 26 215.609
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:17.970 1.185 27 214.928
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:17.981 1.196 27 214.898
6 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1:18.291 1.506 29 214.047
7 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 1:18.471 1.686 31 213.556
8 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 1:18.606 1.821 27 213.189
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:18.620 1.835 28 213.151
10 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1:18.643 1.858 31 213.089
11 Carlos Sainz McLaren/Renault 1:18.733 1.948 33 212.845
12 Esteban Ocon Renault 1:18.736 1.951 31 212.837
13 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1:18.744 1.959 32 212.816
14 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:18.888 2.103 26 212.427
15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:18.917 2.132 24 212.349
16 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:18.981 2.196 24 212.177
17 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 1:19.145 2.360 21 211.737
18 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:19.230 2.445 31 211.510
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:20.334 3.549 30 208.604
20 Roy Nissany Williams/Mercedes 1:20.664 3.879 25 207.750