BARCELONA, Spain -- Mercedes' domination of the Circuit de Catalunya continued into the first day of this week's in-season test in Spain as Valtteri Bottas topped the timesheets by 1.711s.
The two-day test, taking place at the scene of Mercedes' one-two victory at Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, is the last chance for the teams to take part in unrestricted testing this season. All ten teams are present and the focus was split between gathering data on test parts and preparation for the next round in Monaco.
Bottas' fastest time appeared to be a result of the latter as Mercedes bolted on Pirelli's softest compound -- the C5 -- which is due to make its race debut in Monaco.