Valtteri Bottas finished quickest at the end of the morning session on the first day of testing ahead of the new Formula 1 season. At the wheel of the Mercedes W11 at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, Bottas clocked a time of one minute 17.313secs, using the C3 medium compound of the five Pirelli have available to all teams in testing. Article continues under video The Finn, who will give way to team-mate and reigning six-times champion Lewis Hamilton for the afternoon run, was 0.062s ahead of Sergio Perez in the Racing Point at the end of his 79 laps. To add perspective, Bottas' lap was 1.1s slower than the best in testing at this track a year ago, and almost two seconds down on his own...
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