Barcelona F1 test day one
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Your lap counts are:
Verstappen 70
Russell 60
Bottas 59
Sainz 54
Leclerc 45
Ocon 44
Perez 43
Magnussen 41
Kvyat 38
Kubica 37
Verstappen 70
Russell 60
Bottas 59
Sainz 54
Leclerc 45
Ocon 44
Perez 43
Magnussen 41
Kvyat 38
Kubica 37
Kubica has improved to a 1m18.873s in the Alfa Romeo on C2s.
Autosport
Our technical whizz Jake Boxall-Legge has taken a close look at the new Racing Point RP20's close - some might say clone-like - similarities with last year's Mercedes W10. It's a gamble that has its risks, but in the last year of the current rules cycle, could also have huge benefits. 
Verstappen leaves the Red Bull pit - he's done the most laps so far on 70.
Bottas and Perez - at the head of the times so far - have just headed out again.
Leclerc is pounding around on the C3s in his Ferrari.
Replays show Verstappen taking to the runoff at the Tun 10 hairpin - just a brief excursion, though.
The Aston Martin logo on the back of Verstappen's rear wing appears to be wobbling somewhat as he races down the main straight.
Kvyat is returning to the track for AlphaTauri - he's currently propping up the times and the lap count, after completing 42 tours.
Leclerc and Sainz have been swapping track position in the first sector - they're three months early for the race here at Barcelona.
A blur of Bottas
Bottas completes a lap that's 1.6s off his benchmark best.
Replays show Bottas sliding wide as he exits the penultimate corner, which has happened a fair few times so far today.
Bottas dips over the 1m19s mark as his long run on the C3s continues.
Kubica sets two personal bests in the opening segments - this could be the first improvement in a while.
And Kubica puts Alfa into seventh on a 1m18.386s on the C3s.
Russell pops his Williams into sixth on the 1m18.168s on the C3s.
Those two improvements were a veritable flurry.
Verstappen is currently lapping on the C1 tyres - the hardest in Pirelli's range for testing.
Bottas takes a trip down the pitlane in his Mercedes.
Williams has added some rather unsightly flow-viz paint to the underside of Russell's car - just behind the front wing to the bargeboards.
We're approaching the final 15 minutes of the first morning - but no signs of any improvements right now.
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Kvyat has emerged on what appear to be C3s, and looks to be on a decent timed lap now - so we might be in for a late change in order after all.
It's a 1m18.859s, but Kvyat stays 10th and last for now.
Kvyat shaves another two tenths, but still cannot usurp Magnussen. Eight minutes left now.
Magnussen has been down the escape road at Turn 9 after a big lock-up, but has returned to the track unscathed. Kvyat has improved but once, but he still remains in 10th place.
Bottas pops up with a 1m18.486s and a 1m17.556s, both of which would've been good enough for second place if he weren't already topping the session.
Stopwatch
As a point of reference, the fastest time from day one of last year's test was a 1m18.161s set by Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari, so we're already well below that with the afternoon session still to come.
With just under a minute left on the clock, Kvyat looked on course to finally escape 10th place with two personal-best sectors - but he came into the pits instead.
Checkered flag
Chequered flag. Valtteri Bottas tops the opening session of 2020 pre-season testing for Mercedes.
Just 1.171s between Bottas in first and Kvyat in tenth in the end. We wouldn't mind seeing that all season, but this is only the first morning of testing after all.
It was a good morning for Racing Point, it's near copy of last year's Mercedes lapping just 0.062s slower in Perez's hands.
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For those of you wondering who totted up the most laps in the first session, wonder no further:
Verstappen 91
Bottas 75
Russell 73
Leclerc 64
Sainz 64
Ocon 62
Kubica 59
Perez 58
Magnussen 55
Kvyat 54
Verstappen 91
Bottas 75
Russell 73
Leclerc 64
Sainz 64
Ocon 62
Kubica 59
Perez 58
Magnussen 55
Kvyat 54
Autosport
If you had to pretend to work and missed any of this morning's action, then this handy recap from Grand Prix Editor Alex Kalinauckas should leave you suitably informed on the morning's running. 
Only one non-racer out testing this morning, with Williams refugee Robert Kubica doing the early running in the Alfa Romeo. Of course, it wasn't always like that - on this day in 2003, Williams had Marc Gene in action at Barcelona, while Renault used the services of Allan McNish, then fresh out of a race seat at Toyota.
Autosport
Since joining Autosport earlier this month, LUKE SMITH has been a busy chap. Before testing, we sent him to Baku to sit down with Liberty Media supremo Chase Carey, who revealed that the revised commercial terms for teams in the updated Concorde Agreement will be "better for everybody".
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/148325/carey-comfortable-with-new-f1-deal-negotiations
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/148325/carey-comfortable-with-new-f1-deal-negotiations
Green flag
After a lunch break and a somewhat quirky four-driver press conference, we're back underway for the afternoon session of the opening day of testing.
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By: Geoff Creighton
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