Bottas leads opening morning of F1 pre-season testing

Valtteri Bottas set the pace for reigning Formula 1 champions Mercedes on the first morning of the opening pre-season test at Barcelona.

Bottas managed a best lap of 1m17.313s on Pirelli’s Medium tyre compound to post a fast early benchmark at the start of winter testing ahead of the upcoming 2020 season.

The Finn’s time was nearly a tenth faster than the quickest lap set during the entire first test last year by former Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg as teams produced some eye-catching times at such an early stage of the opening three-day test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Impressively, there were no major reliability headaches for any of the teams as all 10 lodged at least 50 laps throughout an uninterrupted four-hour morning session.

Sergio Perez got within 0.062s of Bottas’ benchmark in Racing Point’s new RP20 machine on the same C3 compound, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ending the morning over four-tenths adrift in third spot having set his best time on Hards. The Dutchman completed the most mileage of any driver in the morning, racking up an impressive 91 laps in his RB16.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz wound up fourth and some 0.688s off the pace, with the returning Esteban Ocon just 0.003s behind the Spaniard as he gave Renault’s new RS20 - sporting a sleek all-black testing livery - its public debut.

It was an encouraging start to pre-season testing for Williams after the British squad missed the first two-and-a-half of running last year owning to production delays with its troubled FW42 2019 car.

As well as clocking 73 laps, George Russell posted a lap time nearly a second faster than his qualifying lap for the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix and quicker than any he managed throughout testing at Barcelona last season.

Unlike in 2019 when it spent most of its winter programme lighting up the timesheets, Ferrari ended the morning a steady seventh as Charles Leclerc stepped in as a last-minute substitution to replace Sebastian Vettel, who reported he was unwell after being scheduled to drive on the first day for the Scuderia.

Leclerc reported “a bit of understeer mid-corner in the long high-speed corners like T10/11 and 15” during his early runs on his way to setting a time that was nearly a second slower than Bottas’.

Making his first official appearance in his new role as test and reserve driver for Alfa Romeo following his departure from Williams, Robert Kubica was eighth and 1.073s off the pace.

The Pole, who will combine his F1 duties with a campaign in the DTM this year, will hand over Alfa’s C39 challenger to Antonio Giovinazzi for the afternoon session.

Rounding out the order were Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat, who each completed a half-century of laps for Haas and AlphaTauri respectively. Magnussen had the most dramatic moment of the morning as he spun at Turn 9 in the closing minutes of the session, before continuing on his way. 

Defending six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will return to action after the lunch break when he takes over from Bottas to drive Mercedes’ latest contender.

Barcelona F1 pre-season Test 1 Day 1 - times at the lunchbreak.