Lewis Hamilton’s reign at the sharp end of the Formula 1 pecking order has continued during practice one ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, with the British ace topping the timing sheets ahead of former team-mate Jenson Button. Daniel Ricciardo managed to finish third for Red Bull, whereas team-mate Sebastian Vettel’s woes continued with an electrical fault after only thirty minutes.
After the lengthy break since the Chinese Grand Prix, the Formula 1 fraternity reconvened around Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya for the first European race of the 2014 season. With numerous updates and improvements on the cars, the opening practice session of the weekend got underway with a flurry of track activity under glorious weather conditions. In traditional Friday practice fashion, many installation laps were immediately completed with the Caterham of Marcus Ericsson becoming the first driver to take to the track, along with Sauber reserve driver Giedo van der Garde. The Dutchman was replacing team-mate Esteban Gutierrez for the opening session, as was GP2 driver Felipe Nasr at Williams in place of Valtteri Bottas.