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Lewis Hamilton ended the first day of pre-season testing on top with a lap time of 1 minute 21.765. The Briton took over the car from team mate Valtteri Bottas after lunch, racking up 73 laps compared to Bottas' 79.
Sebastian Vettel should be relatively happy with his day, as he finished a tenth behind the Mercedes. However, more importantly he clocked up 129 laps, the most of any driver today.
Felipe Massa was third with a fastest lap of 1 minute 22.076, and was the only other driver to surpass the 100 lap mark, finishing the day with 103 laps. Kevin Magnussen in the Haas was fourth, finishing on 51 laps. The Dane spun his car at turn 10, damaging the front wing but nothing major to halt progress.
Daniel Ricciardo had an initial scare at the start of the session when he was forced to park the car at turn 4 due to a sensor issue. A battery problem also emerged at around 3.PM, but the Australian still ended his day fifth with 50 laps.
Bottas was sixth, with his best lap time 1.404 seconds slower than his new team mate. Sergio Perez suffered from an exhaust issue in the afternoon, racking up 39 laps with his best lap time slotting him into seventh.
Toro Rosso's visually impressive new car was eighth with 52 laps to its name. Hulkenberg's Renault was ninth, setting five more laps that the above Toro Rosso.
McLaren started their pre-season in torrid circumstances when an oil issue was discovered in the car. Fernando Alonso was sidelined for many hours before coming back out, but only managed 23 laps which saw him finish in tenth.
Marcus Ericsson's Sauber managed 73 laps, ending the driver list from the first day of pre-season testing. Be sure to join us again tomorrow for day two.
Fergal Walsh
Circuit de Catalunya - 27 February 2017
Grand Prix of Belgium
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Harryw
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