Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas finished the opening free practice session in their heavily modified W08's here at the Circuit de Catalonia a full second faster than third placed man, Kimi Raikkonen. Raikkonen' s teammate Sebastian Vettel, who finished fourth overall, had an issue with a broken rear tyre but it didn't take long or the tea to fix the issue and send him back out.
Max Verstappen was fifth quickest ahead of his Aussie teammate, Daniel Ricciardo with the two Haas drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean finishing seventh and eighth overall.
Magnussen pulled out the virtual safety car toward the end when he placed his Haas in the gravel, but otherwise the all American team had a fairly good session.
Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top ten.
It was another disastrous session for Fernando Alonso who was forced to abandon he session after the firs corner on his first lap due to a Honda engine failure.
The Spaniard looked far from impressed and actually left the circuit and returned to his motel room.
Here's hoping he returns for the second free practice session in a few hours time.
