Montmelo (Spain), Aug 14 (TIWN) Valtteri Bottas on Friday posted the fastest time as he led a Mercedes 1-2 in the first practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton finished just 0.039s off and Max Verstappen was 0.9s slower in third place.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fourth, 1.185s off top spot and just 0.011s faster than team mate Sebastian Vettel, who received a new chassis for this weekend after a “small fault” was found on his previous one, and he looked to be more comfortable with it as he put in a time much closer to his team mate than he managed at the last race weekend. Romain Grosjean was a surprise sixth for Haas, 1.506s off the pace.