Bottas surges clear in Spain FP1 as Kubica returns

Valtteri Bottas surged to the head of the pack for Mercedes in the opening Formula 1 practice session ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix as Robert Kubica made his official race weekend comeback with Williams.

Two weeks on from his gut-wrenching defeat in Baku, Bottas sent out an early warning shot to his rivals by finishing eight-tenths clear of the field through FP1 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The session marked the return of Kubica to an official F1 session after more than seven years away as he replaced Sergey Sirotkin at Williams for the 90-minute practice.

One-time grand prix winner Kubica turned in his first grand prix weekend laps since the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but could only finish 19th-fastest, having also suffered a spin at Turn 13.

Kubica was not the only driver to get caught out in a messy session that saw many go off-track at points, with Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll paying the price for mistakes as their FP1s ended early.

Ricciardo went off at Turn 4 with an hour left on the clock, bringing his session to an early end after hitting the wall. Brendon Hartley and Romain Grosjean also had moments at the same corner, but were able to avoid the barrier.

Stroll also managed not to damage his Williams after kissing the wall at the slower-speed Turn 5, but was beached in the gravel, curtailing his session.

Lewis Hamilton to put up the closest fight to Mercedes teammate Bottas at the front of the pack, finishing eight-tenths of a second behind in second place. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen followed in P3 for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen in P4, with the latter making a late improvement on the Medium tyre.

Kimi Raikkonen took fifth in the sister Ferrari, with Ricciardo ending FP1 in seventh place despite his crash limiting him to just 11 laps.

Home favourite Fernando Alonso led the midfield pack for McLaren by finishing sixth, 1.7 seconds back from Bottas’ headline time, with teammate Stoffel Vandoorne taking ninth as a number of new updates were debuted on the MCL33 car.

Haas teammates Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished P8 and P11 respectively, split by Vandoorne and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, the latter completing the top 10.

Charles Leclerc continued his impressive form following his charge to sixth in Baku as he finished 12th, albeit not without a late scare after being squeezed by Magnussen as he crossed the finish line, prompting an angry response from the Sauber driver over team radio.

Sergio Perez finished as the lead Force India in P13 ahead of Marcus Ericsson in the second Sauber, with Carlos Sainz Jr. taking 15th for Renault. Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg followed in 16th and 17th respectively ahead of Hartley, with the Williams duo of Kubica and Stroll propping up the running order.