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Vettel quickest, McLaren in trouble as F1 testing resumes

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time on the first morning of Formula 1's second pre-season test at Barcelona, as a technical problem limited McLaren's running to just seven laps.

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H

Sutton Images

 Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1 W09
 Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren MCL33
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14
 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H, carries sensor equipment
 Sergio Perez, Force India VJM11
Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren returns to the pits
 Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1 Team VF-18
Pierre Gasly, Scuderia Toro Rosso STR13
Marcus Ericsson, Alfa Romeo Sauber C37

Vettel finally emerged on top of a duel with Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas to take Tuesday morning honours, with Max Verstappen ending up third quickest for Red Bull.

Bottas got down to business straight away and was the benchmark for much of the morning, with a longer run on mediums getting his best down to 1m20.756s by the end of the opening hour.

He hit 24 laps, more than anyone else, just before Stoffel Vandoorne's stopped McLaren brought out the red flags.

Vandoorne, with one flying lap to his name, had just set personal best first and second sectors before coming to a halt exiting the final corner with a battery-related problem to blame.

The McLaren remained in the garage until the very end of the session almost three hours later, when Vandoorne emerged in time for one brief exploration lap.

After the McLaren-induced stoppage ended, Bottas and Vettel were quickly out on soft Pirellis, with Vettel briefly nabbing top spot on a 1m20.653s before Bottas reclaimed the place by just 0.022s.

Bottas nudged his benchmark down to a 1m20.596s and Verstappen improved to a 1m20.649s on medium tyres, with the top three teams separated by barely half a tenth.

With little more than half an hour to go, Vettel ended a long run on mediums with the fastest lap of the session, a 1m20.396s, to move two tenths clear of Bottas.

Verstappen did not improve again and was third fastest, falling one lap short of matching Vettel and Bottas on 86.

Behind the top three, Pierre Gasly continued the Toro Rosso-Honda partnership's fine start to life with a soft-tyre lap half a second off the pace.

The Frenchman managed 53 laps as Honda continued to make hay while its old partner McLaren hits new troubles.

Kevin Magnussen was the final driver to lap within a second of Vettel's best, posting a 1m21.298s on soft tyres.

That put Haas just over a tenth clear of Renault, which kept Nico Hulkenberg in the garage for much of the first half of the morning.

However, long runs on the medium tyre helped the French manufacturer break for lunch with a reasonable tally of 48 laps.

Sergey Sirotkin was just a tenth back for Williams, which was a little short of running on 42 laps.

Marcus Ericsson used soft tyres to get Sauber ahead of Force India in the final 10 minutes of the session, 1.497s off the ultimate pace.

Force India sparked a second red flag mid-morning when Sergio Perez had a trip through the gravel exiting Turn 4 and brought "debris" back onto the track, which was swiftly cleared by marshals.

Perez ended the morning with worst non-McLaren tally of 37 laps.

PosDriverTeamTimeGapLaps
1 Vettel Ferrari 1m20.396s   86
2 Bottas Mercedes 1m20.596s 0.200 86
3 Verstappen Red Bull 1m20.649s 0.253 85
4 Gasly Toro Rosso 1m20.973s 0.577 53
5 Magnussen Haas 1m21.298s 0.902 46
6 Sirotkin Williams 1m21.588s 1.192 48
7 Hulkenberg Renault 1m21.738s 1.342 42
8 Ericsson Sauber 1m21.893s 1.497 56
9 Perez Force India 1m21.936s 1.540 37
10 Vandoorne McLaren 1m24.773s 4.377 7

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