BARCELONA, Spain -- Lewis Hamilton kicked off the 2017 season by edging Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel to the quickest time of the opening winter test, a day which saw McLaren hit Honda-related trouble almost immediately.
Hamilton, who stepped in for new Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in the afternoon as per the team's run plan, went quickest with a 1:21.765 on soft tyres. That time was exactly one second down on the quickest time set in 2016 testing and quicker than his own pole time ahead of last year's race (1:22.000), suggesting the new-for-2017 cars will dramatically cut lap times this year as promised.
The three-time world champion debuted Mercedes' unique shark fin design during his run and helped the team accumulate 152 laps overall. Bottas accounted for 79 of them and finished sixth on his first official afternoon at the wheel of the W08, though he ran almost exclusively on the medium tyre and did so in the morning when the track was much greener.
Of note was the problems encountered by McLaren within the first 60 minutes, which limited Fernando Alonso to just one lap before lunch. The delay came when McLaren detected an oil systems issue, one which cost the team a majority of its running as it was located in a "difficult access location". Alonso emerged intermittently in the late afternoon and finished the day with 29 laps to his name -- a miserable return for eight hours' work and a worrying start for a team hoping to take a big step up the pecking order this season.
Sebastian Vettel finished second in what was an encouraging start to testing for Ferrari, clocking up well over a century of laps (128) and finishing just 0.113s behind Hamilton on a medium tyre lap. His final mileage count put him second only to the combined tally of the Mercedes drivers. It is unlikely Ferrari will read too much into headline times at this stage -- the team made a strong start to winter testing last year but suffered a winless season, though it will be happy with a trouble-free day to kick off this winter's schedule.
Felipe Massa also had a good day for mileage, ticking past triple figures in the closing minutes of the session and finishing third. The day represents a solid start for a Williams team which was beaten to fourth position by Force India last season. Kevin Magnussen finished fourth for Haas after a soft tyre run in the final hour moved him above Bottas' time, albeit a full second down on Hamilton's benchmark.
Daniel Ricciardo prompted the first red flag of the day and the season in the opening hour when he stopped at Turn 4, something Red Bull later confirmed was a sensor problem. A battery issue hampered time further after lunch but the Australian was still able to complete 44 laps on his way to finishing sixth. Team boss Christian Horner later downplayed the severity of both issues. Sergio Perez endured a limited day with Force India, spending the entire afternoon session in the garage after the team detected an exhaust problem.
The Toro Rosso, featuring what is overwhelmingly the most popular livery in the paddock, had a quiet day, with Carlos Sainz settling for eighth, 0.3s up on new Renault recruit Nico Hulkenberg, whose first proper day with the RS17 yielded 57 laps and ninth position. Behind him was Fernando Alonso, who finished one place ahead of Sauber's Marcus Ericsson. The Swede rounded off the pecking order, over five seconds off the headline times after 72 laps.
Times at close:
1. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes - 1:21.765 - 73 laps (afternoon)
2. Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari - 1:21.878- 128 laps
3. Felipe Massa - Williams - 1:22.076 - 103 laps
4. Kevin Magnussen - Haas - 122.894 - 50 laps
5. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull - 1:22.926 - 39 laps
6. Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes - 1:23.169 - 79 laps (morning)
7. Sergio Perez - Force India - 1:23.709 - 44 laps
8. Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso - 1:24.494 - 51 laps
9. Nico Hulkenberg - Renault - 1:24.784 - 57 laps
10. Fernando Alonso - McLaren - 1:24.852 - 29 laps
11. Marcus Ericsson - Sauber - 1:26.841 - 72 laps