Bottas quickest on opening morning of Spain F1 test

Valtteri Bottas ended the opening morning of the final in-season test of the 2019 Formula 1 season quickest for Mercedes as the team picked up where it left off in Barcelona.

Taking the reins of the Mercedes W10 car for the first day of running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Bottas managed to set a fastest lap time of 1m16.525s through the four-hour morning session, giving him top spot by seven-tenths of a second.

The only uneasy moment of Bottas' morning came when Mercedes misjudged where it had placed a number of cones at its garage, causing the Finn to get one stuck to a sensor grill that was placed on the car. It was quickly removed once he had returned to the pits.

Bottas will complete the afternoon before handing the car over to Formula 2 driver Nikita Mazepin on Wednesday.

Ferrari began its search for answers after ailing to a fifth defeat of the year to Mercedes in Sunday's race, with Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel both out on-track.

Leclerc finished the session P2, while Vettel - tasked with Pirelli tyre development duty ahead of the 2020 season - was fifth-fastest.

Carlos Sainz took third for McLaren ahead of Red Bull's Pierre Gasly, with Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat following Vettel in seventh.

Pietro Fittipaldi got his latest run-out in for Haas on Tuesday, finishing the morning eighth ahead of Racing Point's Sergio Perez - also on Pirelli duty - and Renault's Nico Hulkenberg.

Racing Point simulator driver Nick Yelloly made his first F1 test appearance in three years and wound up P10 ahead of Ferrari youngster Callum Ilott, who got his first taste of F1 machinery with Alfa Romeo on Tuesday.

F2 championship leader Nicholas Latifi propped up the timesheets in P12 for Williams.