Valtteri Bottas laid down the early benchmark by topping opening practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Under sunny skies in Barcelona, the Finn posted a 1m17.951s on the soft compound tyre to hold a narrow lead over the two Ferrari’s, with Sebastian Vettel ahead of Charles Leclerc.
The difference came in the technical final sector with a two-tenths advantage in the Mercedes driver’s favour, repeating the trend that was also seen in pre-season testing.
Interestingly, however, it was the Italian team who seemed able to keep the tyres alive for longer as wear appeared quite high in the first session.
Lewis Hamilton struggled more than most as his soft tyres overheated in the final sector, leaving him six-tenths down on his teammate in fourth.
Haas head to Barcelona hoping their recent issues with the Pirellis will be resolved and early signs are positive with Romain Grosjean claiming fifth and Kevin Magnussen seventh.
Keen for a strong home race as the only Spaniard on the grid, Carlos Sainz made a solid start in sixth for McLaren.
Red Bull had a compromised session with Pierre Gasly only eighth, while Max Verstappen returned to the garage with an apparent engine issue leaving the Dutchman in 12th.
Daniil Kvyat took ninth for Toro Rosso with Nico Hulkenberg completing the top 10 for Renault.
Racing Point had a tricky session as Lance Stroll caused a late red flag after oversteering off into the barrier at the high-speed Turn 9.
This as Sergio Perez sat only 17th for the Silverstone-based outfit, who are hoping upgrades put them firmly into the battle for ‘best of the rest’.
Alfa Romeo also has work to do with Antonio Giovinazzi only 14th and Kimi Raikkonen 18th.
Finally, at Williams, while they remain stuck to the bottom of the timesheet, both Robert Kubica and George Russell were the closest they have been to the midfield with only half second between themselves and Raikkonen.
Full results can be seen below:
