Hamilton tops opening day of F1 testing

Lewis Hamilton has topped an incident free day of running as Formula 1 pre-season testing got underway in Spain.

Hamilton was fastest in Barcelona from team-mate Valtteri Bottas, the pair recording 173 laps between them.

That was only five laps more than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, whose marathon day saw him fourth best at just over half a second back.

The Dutchman was the busiest of the 15 drivers who headed out on track, with Carlos Sainz completing 161 laps for McLaren.

He ended the day sixth fastest, close to nine tenths away from Hamilton’s outright pace.

Sitting third was Sergio Perez, who completed just 58 laps in his half day of running.

The Racing Point team split its programme with Lance Stroll also in the car, the Canadian 10th fastest and a second away from his team-mate’s time.

On track there was little in the way of drama, though Daniil Kvyat (AlphaTauri) suffered a software glitch in the morning.

Elsewhere Daniel Ricciardo had a spell in the garage during his afternoon shift in the Renault, though still logged 56 laps to go with Ocon’s 62 from the morning’s running.

It left the pair seventh and eighth respectively, though given the nature of the day and variety of programmes little can be read into the times, with total laps of greater importance.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended the day 11th, one spot up from rookie Nicholas Latifi in the Williams.

Robert Kubica was next best in his Alfa Romeo debut, from Kevin Magnussen and Antonio Giovinazzi.

Testing in Spain continues today, with Friday’s running set to conclude the opening test.

Formula 1 pre-season testing, Day 1 times