Lewis Hamilton enjoyed an impressive start to the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, finishing fastest in the opening practice on Friday morning.
The Brit helped secure a Mercedes one-two in Barcelona as he clocked a 1:21.521 lap on medium tyres, just 0.029 seconds ahead of his team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen came closest to the Mercedes pair, while Fernando Alonso endured a miserable day, breaking down after just three corners.
Just when McLaren looked as though they had nowhere to go but up, they sunk to a new low as Alonso failed to complete a lap.
A puff of smoke enveloped the two-time former champion when his McLaren spun out of a turn and into the gravel at the start of the morning session at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya.
McLaren’s team radio told him to ‘stop the car, stop the car, engine problem’ as a pool of liquid dripped from the underside of the vehicle.
The rest of the opening practice saw Mercedes register the top two times under sunny skies in northeastern Spain following Thursday’s showers.
Ferrari pair Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were third and fourth, about a second slower than Hamilton.
F1 leader Vettel also had a mishap early on, when what he suspected to be an issue with his gearbox forced him to stop coming out of pit lane. After marshals rolled him back to his garage, his mechanics quickly fixed the problem and he went back out.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who won the race last year, and Daniel Ricciardo were next, within 1.6 seconds of Hamilton.
Practice will resume after lunch and again on Saturday before qualifying for Sunday’s race.
Source: Hamilton finishes quickest in Spanish Grand Prix practice | Daily Mail Online
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