@ValtteriBottas leads @Max33Verstappen in #SpanishGP FP1 session. #F1

Valtteri Bottas topped the time-sheets in the FP1 session at the Spanish GP ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by a narrow 0.033 seconds and Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton who completed the top three.

With clear skies and warmer temperatures at the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya, Robert Kubica, taking the place of regular Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo Racing for opening practice, posted the initial P1 benchmark with a 1:27.006 on the harder rubber.

But Kubica was immediately relegated by Bottas’ 1:21.899, also set on the white side-walled tyre.

Just after Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin lost the rear of his VF-21 racer, getting on the power out of the quick turn seven left, darting off left before he reached kerbs of the uphill eighth corner right, Hamilton went to the top.

The Briton’s 1:21.014 was also posted on the harder compounds and remained the time to beat until Verstappen set his quick lap on the same tyres a few minutes later with a 1:20.405.

The two championship leaders continued on their long opening stints, but were momentarily knocked off the top by Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso, setting a 1:19.950 just after the ten minute mark.

Alonso’s effort was posted on the red-marked softer compounds, but the Spaniard did not remain at the top for long as Hamilton’s hard run saw a faster lap a few moments later – a 1:19.675 for the Mercedes driver.

After a brief break in the pits leading up to the halfway point in the session, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel went to the top of the time-sheets on a 1:19.234 as the majority of the pack switched to the softer rubber.

Hamilton’s initial flyer on the softs saw the Briton jump to P1 setting a 1:18.808, whilst team-mate Bottas had to abandon his first timed lap on the red-branded compounds by sliding his F1 W12 wide going through the long-sweeping turn three right-hander.

But his second effort brought the Finn just 0.030 seconds behind his team-mate before Hamilton improved once more posting a 1:18.627.

After going through the pits, Bottas was able to move ahead of Hamilton with a 1:18.504, which was the session’s best time, which featured the quickest second sector effort, where the latter went slower than his personal best on his hot lap, although the Briton remained fastest in sector’s one and three.

The Red Bull pairing kept in their garages for a big amount in the mid-way part of opening practice and the Milton Keynes-based outfit lost more track time when the session was red-flagged when Alfa Romeo Racing’s Robert Kubica lost the rear of Raikkonen’s C41 racer going through the revised turn ten long left-hander.

Kubica spun off backwards and beached the Alfa in the gravel trap beyond the corner, which meant his C41 had to be craned away and almost ten minutes were evaporated off the clock during it’s recovery.

When the session continued with under ten minutes remaining, the Red Bull duo made their appearance on the softer tyres.

Sergio Perez lead the field around when FP1 resumed but his effort was well adrift of Bottas’ benchmark, whilst Red Bull team-mate Verstappen had to abort his flyer after catching traffic.

After the Dutchman was reassured that he had enough battery charge for another hot lap, while being warned about his tyre being a lot hotter than normal due to an extra warm up lap, Verstappen went again.

He matched Bottas’s effort in the opening two segments and ended up 0.033 seconds off, but the Red Bull driver lost time running deep into turn ten and then hitting the kerbs hard at the last chicane.

Verstappen then split the Mercedes pairing into second place, with Hamilton 0.123 seconds adrift of team-mate Bottas’ Spanish GP FP1 benchmark.

McLaren’s Lando Norris on his soft tyre effort just before the red flag, saw the Briton 0.440 seconds off of Bottas’ Spanish GP FP1 time-topper and was fourth followed by the Ferrari duo.

The Prancing Horse went different from the packing running the yellow-marked medium rubber after an earlier stint on the hards, as Charles Leclerc – who wound up with FP1’s quickest sector two time – and Carlos Sainz ended the opening session in fifth and sixth respectively with late improvements on the mediums.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took seventh in-front of Vettel, who lost a bit of his Aston Martin AMR21’s front wing as he hit the turn eight sausage kerb on his initial flying lap on the softer compounds in the halfway mark.

Red Bull’s Perez soft tyre effort was good enough for ninth place, with the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll rounding out the top ten.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda finished outside the top ten in 11th place and ahead of Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon who was 12th, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi who ended FP1 in 13th and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo taking 14th.

Alpine’s Alonso was 15th and in-front of Williams Racing duo Nicholas Latifi and reserve Roy Nissany (driving for George Russell in the opening session) who were 16th and 17th respectively.

Uralkali Haas F1 Team pairing Mick Schumacher and Mazepin finished opening practice in 18th and at the rear respectively with Alfa Romeo Racing’s reserve Kubica in 19th place.

You can see the full Formula 1 Aramco Grande Premio De Espana 2021 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1086/spain/practice-1.html

Formula 1 @Aramco #SpanishGP 2021 Preview. #F1 @Circuitcat_eng