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Sebastian Vettel leads Ferrari one-two in first Spanish GP practice

Sebastian Vettel spearheaded a Ferrari one-two in the opening Formula 1 practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix

The German clocked a 1m23.951s to beat team-mate Kimi Raikkonen by 0.138 seconds, with both times set on the soft tyre.

In contrast, Mercedes chose to focus on the medium tyre, as it did at Barcelona in pre-season testing, and racked up more than 60 laps in total.

Nico Rosberg was third quickest, half-a-second off the pace, with his reigning world champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton 0.16s further back.

Warm and sunny conditions greeted the drivers for the first practice session of the European season with Mercedes getting on with its programme straight away.

Rosberg and Hamilton traded quickest times, with Rosberg leading the way by just 0.002s after the first series of runs.

But the Mercedes duo were bumped down when Ferrari joined the fray, running the softs.

Vettel stopped at the end of the pitlane right at the end of the session after narrowly failing to leave before the red light flickered on.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo ended the session fifth quickest, 1.465s off the pace, with his new team-mate Max Verstappen only a couple of tenths adrift in sixth.

Valtteri Bottas was the leading Williams in seventh.

Carlos Sainz Jr, Felipe Massa - who spun at Turn 5 but continued - and Fernando Alonso completed the top 10.

Daniil Kvyat was 12th quickest on his return to Toro Rosso, half a second shy of team-mate Sainz.

Kevin Magnussen was 11th for Renault but his team-mate Esteban Ocon, who stepped in for Jolyon Palmer, managed just six laps and failed to set a time on his first appearance this season.

There were also mixed fortunes for Force India with Nico Hulkenberg managing 27 laps but his team-mate Sergio Perez spending a large chunk of time in the garage after pitting with smoke pouring from the rear of the car.

Romain Grosjean, who like his Haas team-mate Esteban Gutierrez is running the latest spec Ferrari engine this weekend, said the car was "a disaster at low speed" and was 15th, a tenth quicker than the Mexican.

PRACTICE ONE TIMES

Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m23.951s - 22
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m24.089s 0.138s 18
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.454s 0.503s 34
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m24.611s 0.660s 33
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m25.416s 1.465s 25
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m25.585s 1.634s 29
7 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m25.672s 1.721s 36
8 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m26.078s 2.127s 19
9 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m26.186s 2.235s 32
10 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m26.243s 2.292s 18
11 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m26.576s 2.625s 30
12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Ferrari 1m26.583s 2.632s 21
13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m26.938s 2.987s 27
14 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m27.064s 3.113s 9
15 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m27.253s 3.302s 27
16 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m27.258s 3.307s 17
17 Esteban Gutierrez Haas/Ferrari 1m27.283s 3.332s 18
18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m27.392s 3.441s 24
19 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda 1m27.610s 3.659s 19
20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor/Mercedes 1m28.084s 4.133s 29
21 Rio Haryanto Manor/Mercedes 1m29.052s 5.101s 34
22 Esteban Ocon Renault - - 6


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