Bottas leads Vettel as Stroll accident marks the end of the session under red flag | Formula 1®

The last time he was a winner in Baku, Valtteri Bottas was back in the race, as the race started in Spain. The Finn led the Free Practice 1 for Mercedes, ahead of Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari.

While Mercedes and Ferrari were running cars heavily updated this weekend as the "European season" began, it was the Silver Arrows that made the most of their improvements on Friday morning, although the Bottas' advantage over Vettel is 0.115. And his happiness of being the fastest would have been checked by an alleged hydraulic leak on his car that had seen him stuck in the garage for the last part of the session.

After a rather fluid 89-minute run, Lance Stroll pulled out the red flags when a major overwork made him leave the circuit at turn 9, his Racing Point RP19 sinking into the barriers at the edge of Track. He came out unscathed after setting the 13th fastest time of the session.

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) finished third, ten tenths behind Vettel's win, while Lewis Hamilton was fourth and six-tenth behind Bottas' time in the second Mercedes, with the Britian dissatisfied with his ability to get his Pirelli tires in the zone.

Red Bull, who chose not to use the soft tires during the session, was absent. Pierre Gasly finished eighth for the team, while Verstappen was 12th, the Dutchman having suffered an eventful FP1 who narrowly saw him avoiding hitting a Bottas who was moving slowly in turn 14, before an oil leak do not see him sent to the garage.

Haas planned to move Friday to make substantial "upgrades", with Romain Grosjean testing the new pieces and Kevin Magnussen scheduled to get them on Saturday if they proved effective. They proved very effective, with Grosjean finishing fifth in Bottas' time, despite some difficult moments for the Frenchman, and more than two tenths more than Magnussen managed in the old-spec VF-19.

Local hero Carlos Sainz took a sandwich between the two Haas cars and encouraged the spectators to reach 6th place for McLaren. Daniil Kvyat was P9 for Toro Rosso, while Renault's Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo – who are both ready to use the French manufacturer's improved production units this weekend – are trying to regain their playing field status – 10th and 11th.

So it's Mercedes that hits the first shot in Spain – but expect the times to change as we head for the FP2 qualifying simulations on Friday afternoon.