Barcelona-EL1: Ferrari and Vettel take the lead

La F1 made its big return to Western Europe this Friday morning with the first free practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix. A session which saw the domination of Ferrari SF16-H Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen. The four-time German world champion was the fastest thanks to a best lap achieved in 1'23 "951 and precedes his Finnish teammate by 138 thousandths.

The two Italian single-seaters are ahead of the two Mercedes W07 Hybrid by Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, relegated by more than five tenths, but who did not use the soft tires unlike their rivals from Maranello.

The Red Bull RB12 Daniel Ricciardo et Max Verstappen follow in the ranking in 5th and 6th positions more than 1″4 ahead of the first Williams de Valtteri Bottas. Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), Felipe Massa (Williams) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren).

Kevin Magnussen place first Renault in eleventh place, more than 2″5 behind Vettel’s benchmark ahead of Daniil Kvyat, back at Toro Rosso. Esteban Ocon for his part had a complicated session, initially slowed down by a puncture on the right rear after driving over a piece of debris, before getting off his R.S.16 half an hour from the end, following a problem with her car, visibly battery.

Sergio Pérez (Force India) also had a tricky start in Catalonia, with a mechanical problem on his VJM09 in the first minutes of the session, forcing the Mexican to stop his effort before returning to the track in the final minutes. Romain Grosjean (Haas) only clocked the 16th time, after complaining about the behavior of his car.

The second session will begin in the early afternoon at 14 p.m.

EL1 Spanish GP ranking