Testing kicks off at Barcelona

F1 Test, Barcelona, Circuit de Catalunya

The 2016 episode of Formula One history has officially kicked off this morning with pre-season testing getting underway at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Following a number of unveilings, Mercedes and Toro Rosso were the first to hit the track for an installation lap.

No major hiccups happend before noon however, with Hamilton and Bottas completing the most laps, particularly in a stint just before the noon break at 1 o'clock.

It was however Sebastian Vettel who set the fastest time in the morning, nearly half a second quicker than Hamilton, but completing 30 laps less. The Ferrari was not out immediately in the morning, but as it emerged, a lot of pitot tube arrays were fixed to the car. Williams was similarly often seen with some aerodynamic measurement equipment while McLaren ran with a front wing flexing sensor.

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The single red flag during the first 4 hours of running was caused by Romain Grosjean who somewhere along the track left his front wing.