Bottas fastest as Mercedes lead Spanish GP practice

Barcelona (Reuters): Mercedes, with Valtteri Bottas again quicker than world champion Lewis Hamilton, led the way in the first Spanish Grand Prix practice yesterday, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel the best of the rest.

Bottas put down an impressive marker with a best lap of one minute 18.148 seconds on the soft tyres, 0.849 faster than his teammate who won from pole last year. Vettel, who will be chasing his fourth successive pole position today, was on the quicker supersofts, but 0.950 slower than the Finn around a sunny but windy Circuit de Catalunya.

Hamilton leads the German, also a four-time world champion, by four points after four races, but owes his advantage to a healthy slice of luck.