Ferrari and Mercedes head Spanish practice sessions - Renault and McLaren have technical issues
Published by Christine
Free Practice 1 in Spain was led by Sebastian Vettel, with Kimi Räikkönen close behind him. Mercedes were a little slower but were concentrating on a harder compound of tyre and completing more laps than everyone else.
Esteban Ocon was in the Renault, taking Jolyon Palmer’s seat for the session, but he didn’t manage to set a lap time and only completed six exploratory laps. Sergio Pérez was also struggling, with the Force India coming into the pit lane streaming smoke, allowing the Mexican to only complete nine laps.
Second practice was also incident-filled. Jolyon Palmer was back in his car, but the Renault picked up a huge puncture that scattered debris everywhere and brought out the red flag. McLaren appeared to have found pace but Fernando Alonso had to have a replacement plank after crossing the artificial grass too hard, whilst Button had technical issues on his car that shut everything down unexpectedly.
Rosberg was fastest, pipping Kimi Räikkönen to the top spot, with Lewis Hamilton ending the day in third place.
