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Valtteri Bottas fastest in post-Barcelona Formula 1 test for Mercedes

Valtteri Bottas topped the first day of the Barcelona Formula 1 test with a laptime just a tenth of a second slower than his Spanish Grand Prix pole position mark.

The Mercedes driver topped the morning running, but improved his time in the afternoon using the Pirelli C5 tyres, which are two steps softer than the softs used during the grand prix but will be available in Monaco next weekend.

He set a time of 1m15.511s, just 0.105s slower than his record pole position pace from Saturday.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc set his best time with five minutes remaining using C2 rubber, ending up 1.422s down.

At the same time, Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat moved up to third, setting a time of 1m17.679s.

Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg secured fourth place half-an-hour after running resumed with a time of 1m18.051s set on the C3 Pirellis.

Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly had an early end to running when he ground to a halt with 70 minutes remaining with a suspected transmission problem that struck at the exit of the chicane.

By that time, he had completed almost 115 laps having stopped a few metres before the line and done enough for fifth place, 2.629s off the pace with his time set on C3s.

Carlos Sainz Jr's morning time left him in sixth place, with Lando Norris taking over the McLaren for the afternoon and scoring ninth with a time set on C3s.

Haas tester Pietro Fittipaldi jumped up to seventh place in the closing minutes with a time just 0.063s slower than Sainz, putting him just 0.035s ahead of Racing Point simulator driver Nick Yelloly.

Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari, one of two cars conducting tyre testing for Pirelli, was ninth fastest on unmarked rubber.

Sergio Perez also didn't improve in the afternoon in the Pirelli test Racing point, ending the day a tenth faster than Alfa Romeo's Callum Ilott.

Ilott's day came to an end just before the halfway point of the four hour afternoon session when he crashed heavily at the fast Turn 3 right-hander the lap after he had set his best time.

He escaped injury but the car was too badly damaged to get back out again before the end of the session.

Williams driver and Formula 2 points' leader Nicholas Latifi was slowest, 5.519s off the pace.

Testing continues on Wednesday.

Zdroj: autosport.com