BARCELONA, Spain -- Mercedes dominated the opening practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix after its two updated W08 cars clocked times a second clear of the fastest Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton beat teammate Valtteri Bottas to the quickest time by 0.029s with a lap half second clear of last year's pole position despite being set on the medium compound tyre. Faster and more representative lap times are expected to come in the afternoon when soft compound is bolted on for the first time, but it was a convincing start for Mercedes and its significant update package.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest, 0.