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Formula 1

Barcelona F1 test day one

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Jake Boxall-Legge
At last, we've got our first proper look at the Racing Point RP20 and the Renault RS20. The Renault, dressed in black, does have a lot of carryover from 2019, but with a tighter package, thinner nose and new recruit Esteban Ocon in the car. The Racing Point, meanwhile, is a Mercedes W10 clone! The nose and front wing are almost exactly the same as last year, and the team has ditched the letterbox sidepod inlets for a more conventional design... as Merc did last year.
An otherwise unremarkable 1m28.321s from Ocon on C2s makes it six lap times on the board.
Bottas is one of three drivers with 15 or more laps on the board so far

Bottas is one of three drivers with 15 or more laps on the board so far

A 1m19.618s from Ocon in the all-black Renault takes him to third place behind Sainz and Perez. That'd be a very cool front of the grid for the Australian GP, no? Oh well.
Magnussen has slotted into sixth place on C3s, 2.5s off the pace. We've now had eight teams record a lap time, although Kvyat's 1m53s effort shouldn't really count.
A minor improvement from Perez, still on C3s, takes him to within seven tenths of Sainz.
Perez edges closer to the lead again, recording a 1m18.898s, as Magnussen improves marginally but stays sixth.
Kubica has moved up to eighth place, and is five seconds off the pace after the C39s second timed lap. Still no timed lap from Russell, while Kvyat remains over half a minute down after some nominal running.
Bottas has just returned to the track in the Mercedes W11.
Russell pits the Williams.
Bottas starts a flying lap in the C2s.
He's 1.2s off in the first sector compared to Sainz's best.
Kubica improves Alfa's position to seventh on a 1m21.280s.
Bottas sets a personal best in the second and third sectors, but remains eight h for Mercedes.
Session leader Sainz has headed back out in the McLaren.
And Russell has returned as well.
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But nobody is going exceptionally quickly right now.
Russell's outing is shortlived - he's back in for Williams.
Two personal bests for Bottas on his current run.
Bottas puts Mercedes back ahead of Alfa with a 1m20.631s.
Verstappen leaves the Red Bull box beneath us.
Sainz's McLaren is sporting a hefty amount of aero paint on its right-hand side.
Sainz sets a new fastest sector one for the day.
And he's gone quickest in sector two as well - the benchmark could be about to be lowered...
Stopwatch
And Sainz does go even quicker on the C2s with a 1m18.211s.
Verstappen is on a hot lap.
Verstappen moves Red Bull up to second with a 1m18.396s, which is 0.185s off Sainz's best, and he's also on the C2 tyres.
Sainz is going quickly again after having a lap off - he's fastest of all in the first sector.
But Sainz's middle sector is slow...
Verstappen and Leclerc are both looking quick - they've done personal bests in second one.
Leclerc improves to second.
He's on the C3 tyres.
Verstappen set personal bests in S1 and S2 but he backed off in the final sector so remains P3 for Red Bull on the C2s.
Bottas is returning to the track for Mercedes
Kvyat has also recently joined the fray.
Verstappen pits and comes to a noisy stop beneath our feet.
But it was just a brief visit for Verstappen, who heads straight back out.
Kvyat sets two personal bests in the opening sectors.

By: Geoff Creighton

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