Spanish GP Friday practice
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Sainz had the rear give up on him in the right hander before the chicane and that spat him wide. So he cut out the chicane entirely. EDD STRAW.
Leclerc has just topped Vettel's earlier benchmark too, going second on a 1m18.338. That's still four tenths of a second slower than Bottas, though.
Stopwatch
Vettel's long-standing fastest time has just fallen. Bottas goes quickest on a set of red-walled soft tyres, setting a 1m17.990s.
Sebastian Vettel is fastest so far in FP1 with a 1m18.407s. Or, he was...
It's just a quick diversion though as Grosjean is back on his way.
Crash
Oops! Romain Grosjean goes wide exiting turn seven and takes a trip through the gravel.
Russell complains of poor traction and mid-to-late corner understeer aboard his Williams. He's still diligently trying to improve his car's set-up, though arguably no amount of optimisation will get him off the back row this weekend.
He's P19 for now. 2.583s off Vettel.
He's P19 for now. 2.583s off Vettel.
Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, has had a subdued practice session so far. He's done the least laps of anyone, tied with Kimi Raikkonen on eight tours of the circuit, and is down in P18 on a 1m21.114s, 2.7s off Vettel. But we're less than an hour into FP1, so not worth reading anything into that!
The cycle established this morning continues, as Grosjean, Magnussen, Norris, Sainz, Giovinazzi, Kvyat and Kubica are the early runners in the second half of FP1.
Norris is out too and, after his first runs on the soft, he's doing some laps on the hards now.
He's headed out on the mediums and there's some rather fetching red flo-viz paint on the front.
They might not be racing McLaren on the track but they're definitely competing for first place in the flo-viz paint stakes: it looks rather nice, I think.
They might not be racing McLaren on the track but they're definitely competing for first place in the flo-viz paint stakes: it looks rather nice, I think.
With first run tyres handed in to Pirelli, there's cars circulating once again. George Russell is the first to venture out for the second half of the session.
Information
That rapid fire activity which lit up the timing boards 10 minutes ago has died out now. Everyone's back in pit lane regrouping. So it's probably a good time to catch you up with the top times so far.
1. Vettel 1m18.407s
2. Leclerc +0.512s
3. Ricciardo +1.167s
4. Bottas +1.311s
5. Grosjean +1.331s
6. Verstappen +1.437s
7. Magnussen +1.523s
8. Norris +1.659s
9. Hulkenberg +1.863s
10. Stroll +1.870s
Gasly and Kvyat have amassed the most laps with 16 apiece so far.
1. Vettel 1m18.407s
2. Leclerc +0.512s
3. Ricciardo +1.167s
4. Bottas +1.311s
5. Grosjean +1.331s
6. Verstappen +1.437s
7. Magnussen +1.523s
8. Norris +1.659s
9. Hulkenberg +1.863s
10. Stroll +1.870s
Gasly and Kvyat have amassed the most laps with 16 apiece so far.
Edd Straw
Prize for highest altitude launch so far goes to Stroll, who just leaped off the raised part of the inside kerb. It wasn’t a soft landing.
More news on the high jump contest taking place at the final chicane from EDD STRAW coming up. We might need to crack out the 1-10 boards and start scoring them on style at this rate.
Quote
Vettel clocks "something flying off" his Ferrari exiting Turn 15. Whatever it was, it was pretty small - well done to him for even spotting it!
Daniel Ricciardo's popped up to P3 now with a 1m19.574s. That slots him in ahead of Bottas.
Edd Straw
Bottas still hitting the first kerb pretty hard, which has caused the rear end to step out on his last few push laps.
Ferrari may be 1-2 but it's not for a lack of trying by Bottas, who is currently 1.3s off Vettel, as EDD STRAW can explain...
Leclerc's improved a bit on his most recent lap but is still 0.512s off Vettel.
That traffic jam which caught Verstappen out earlier is likely a product of different programmes. Lots of drivers are going for lap time on soft tyres but Verstappen is pounding around on a set of hard Pirellis at the moment.
Edd Straw
Kimi overdoes it on entry to the chicane and ends up running deep. That in turn compromises the exit. He is turning in slightly later than Giovinazzi.
Stopwatch
Vettel's flying. He's cut his fastest time down by another four tenths to 1m18.407s.
Nico Hulkenberg has a little off at the exit of turn two but is quickly back on his way.
Edd Straw
Giovinazzi is taking more kerb in the first part of the chicane than anyone else. His car seems to react well to it but that's an aggressive approach.
Saying that, Bottas just hit that inside kerb hard and the car leaped. Barely missed a beat though even though it did mean the car was a little more unsettled later on in the corner and compromised the exit.
Saying that, Bottas just hit that inside kerb hard and the car leaped. Barely missed a beat though even though it did mean the car was a little more unsettled later on in the corner and compromised the exit.
Verstappen! He nearly runs into Bottas on the exit of the final chicane. The drivers were stacking up, with Verstappen pushing and everyone else coasting. A standard hand wave in the air from Max articulates his displeasure.
Stopwatch
But Vettel responds! He's purple in S2 and S3 to set a 1m18.825s.
Stopwatch
Leclerc's now gone top, 1m19.238. That's 0.496s up on Bottas's benchmark from a few moments ago.
There's now 18 cars on track. And Leclerc's just gone purple in sector two, the only bit of the lap where Vettel had been faster than him so far.
Stopwatch
Valtteri Bottas goes straight to the top of the times with a 1m19.734s. Grosjean moves back into P2, a mere 0.004s behind.
Vettel can't match Leclerc in sectors one or three though and is 0.074s off the quickest time. Leclerc was even faster on his next lap in the first turn but hit traffic and had to abort.
It's all going on now; lots of cars on the track and the times are falling quickly.
Leclerc now goes fastest, but his Ferrari team-mate Vettel is purple in sector two...
Stopwatch
Hamilton has to have a second turn at the wheel to make the Turn 10 hairpin. He's 1.879s off Grosjean, who's our new pacesetter
Edd Straw
There's a small moment for Sainz coming Into the chicane. The rear was a little unsettled on entry so had to have a couple of bites at the turn in and compromise the corner.
Stopwatch
Norris on softs has unsurprisingly gone fastest on a 1m20.985, beating Gasly's time on the hards.
Hamilton is the last of the 20 drivers to head to the track, making a practice start on his way out.
Kvyat, Magnussen, Sainz, Grosjean, Giovinazzi are all back out, while Valtteri Bottas is going out for the first time.
Mercifully, Lando Norris heads out onto the track with a set of softs. And with a tinge of that funky green flo-viz paint too.
Gasly's managed to cut his best time down to 1m21.016 now. But with his engine reportedly not at 100% and turning in laps on the hardest compound, that time doesn't mean a whole lot.
By: Geoff Creighton
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