Barcelona F1 test day one
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Another slight improvement for Hamilton, to a 1m23.932s.
Sainz joins the action, having taken over the Renault from Hulkenberg.
Sirotkin pits, so he continues to make us wait to see his first time of the day.
Gary Anderson
Hamilton struggled at Turn 1 and on his third or fourth lap of the run the rear end went on turn in. He then had to gather it up - as always, that looks messy but was an easy catch. The car certainly isn’t on rails just yet. Next lap round the rear stepped out and he had to take to the runoff area.
The Toro Rosso went off - the rear stepped out and by the time he’d caught it he was in the runoff area.
The McLaren looks quite stable. Hard to know until Alonso's really pushing but it's looking like a good starting point.
Last year, the Red Bull struggled for traction at the rear but Ricciardo is able to put the power down on exit and the car behaves itself.
The Toro Rosso went off - the rear stepped out and by the time he’d caught it he was in the runoff area.
The McLaren looks quite stable. Hard to know until Alonso's really pushing but it's looking like a good starting point.
Last year, the Red Bull struggled for traction at the rear but Ricciardo is able to put the power down on exit and the car behaves itself.
Now Ricciardo is in the high 1m21s on this decent-length run that continues to get quicker.
Sirotkin is back out - on softs - and hopefully we'll see him stay out long enough to set a time now too.
Next time around Hamilton starts to climb the order with a 1m24.315s.
Hamilton's first time on the board is a 1m26.974s.
Alonso moves up to fifth, with an overall best final sector, on super-softs.
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Hamilton follows current leader Ricciardo (LAT Images)
Ricciardo dips into the 1m22s now on this ever-improving run, while Hartley and Alonso are circulating together on super-softs. Hamilton heads back out to make it four cars on track.
Gary Anderson
The Toro Rosso is looking front limited. The front end on turn in is washing out a little. The Mercedes has shown the same characteristic.
Alonso returns to the action for his 15th lap of the day. This year it's not even Honda's fault.
Ricciardo's times are gradually coming down, in a matter of laps he's dropped from 1m28s to 1m23s.
That leaves Ricciardo as the only man on track, but so far he's been lapping way off the pace he was setting before lunch.
Alonso in one of the early runners in action this afternoon, as he bids to get plenty more laps under his belt in the McLaren (LAT Images)
Hamilton pits before setting a time. Two laps on the board for the world champion, while Sirotkin has logged four for Williams.
Gary Anderson
Bit of turn in oversteer on the brakes there for Grosjean - the rear steps out and he gathers it in in T1 but lost momentum. No surprise at the driver who is asking too much of the brakes. He does exactly the same the next time round, too!
Hamilton gets his first taste of the action in this test, taking over from Bottas at Mercedes for the afternoon.
Morning pacesetter Ricciardo is also on track, so we're at least getting a little bit of action.
Grosjean, another driver who didn't get a huge amount of laps in this morning, also heads out.
Alonso improves to a 1m23.112 on super-softs early on this first run of the afternoon.
Just in case you needed proof cars had left their garages, here's Sirotkin heading out for the first time (LAT Images)
Sirotkin returns to the pits before setting a time in the Williams. But it's only a brief stop and he's back out on track.
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Alonso is next out. McLaren has lost time to make up (do things ever change?) after that lost wheel pitched him into the gravel this morning.
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Sirotkin heads out, taking over the Williams from Stroll. He's the first car on track since the lunch break.
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Edd Straw
Update from our resident Turn 2 weatherman:
A few spots of rain now - but only a few. Cannot be said to be raining yet.
A few spots of rain now - but only a few. Cannot be said to be raining yet.
The only action at the moment is a few hoods going up in the pitlane and a long engine revving session from the Red Bull garage.
While we wait for any hint that a car might take to the circuit, here's a throwback to this morning when two were in one shot! Brendon Hartley leading Fernando Alonso earlier in the day (LAT Images)
Edd Straw
It's not raining at Turn 2 at the moment but it's looking like it might.
Gary Anderson
Standing down at Turn 2 You can see how much smoother the track surface is. The braking forces of the cars over the years has caused the surface in the past to ripple up but by resurfacing the whole track they’ve solved that.
It does look like a good surface and I’ve heard no complaints. But the one concern is that from what we have seen so far the tyres seem to be lasting a long time, especially considering this is, or at least was, considered a bit of a tyre killer.
It does look like a good surface and I’ve heard no complaints. But the one concern is that from what we have seen so far the tyres seem to be lasting a long time, especially considering this is, or at least was, considered a bit of a tyre killer.
Rain
Still no sign of any action down in the pitlane, but the first reports of spots of rain are coming in from the paddock.
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Nico Hulkenberg gives his verdict on how things have started for Renault: "First impressions, positive to be honest, especially if you compare to 12 months ago, how the first morning went and how it did go today. It’s a huge difference. We've made a lot of progress, the car ran really well, reliable, we got through every single detail in the programme, which is really unusual for the first day.”
We had a genuine 10-minute delay to the start of testing this morning. This afternoon, more than 10 minutes have past without a car appearing since the track reopened.
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By: Geoff Creighton
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