The Formula One season unofficially starts right here, with the opening day of testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya. We'll be with you every step of the way.
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(All Central European Time)
18:00: Here's the final times at the end of the day. Not a list anyone wanted to see at this stage, with Mercedes comfortably clear at the top.
1. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes - 1:16.976 - 94 Laps
2. Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes - +0.337 - 79 Laps
3. Sergio Perez - Racing Point - +0.399 - 58 Laps
4. Max Verstappen - Red Bull - +0.540 - 168 Laps
5. Daniil Kvyat - Alpha Turi - +0.722 - 115 Laps
6. Carlos Sainz - McLaren - +0.886 - 161 Laps
7. Daniel Ricciardo - Renault - +0.897 - 54 Laps
8. Esteban Ocon - Renault - +1.028 - 62 Laps
9. George Russell - Williams - +1.192 - 73 Laps
10. Lance Stroll - Racing Point - +1.306 - 50 Laps
11. Charles Leclrec - Ferrari - +1.313 - 131 Laps
12. Nicholas Latfi - Williams - +1.406 - 63 Laps
13. Robert Kubica - Alfa Romeo - +1.410 - 59 Laps
14. Kevin Magnussen - Haas - +1.490 - 104 Laps
15. Antonio Giovinazzi - Alfa Romeo - +3.120 - 79 Laps
17:20: A few teams out on the red-striped tyres, the quickest of the bunch, suggesting there are some quicker laps on the horizon.
Formula One
I don't think any journalist in this media centre wants to write a headline with the words "Mercedes" or "one-two" in it. A late quick lap on no fuel by someone, anyone, would be the ideal way to finish this opening day. It's been productive for everyone, so those in the pit-lane will be happy at least.
17.00: We're into the final hour of the day. This is sometimes the time a team opts for a low-fuel run on the quickest set of tyres, meaning the order might be changing around a little bit before the chequered flag falls on the day.
1. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes - 1:16.987 - 57 Laps
2. Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes - +0.355 - 79 Laps
3. Sergio Perez - Racing Point - +0.397 - 58 Laps
4. Daniil Kvyat - Alpha Turi - +0.720 - 75 Laps
5. Max Verstappen - Red Bull - +0.809 - 137 Laps
6. Carlos Sainz - McLaren - +1.023 - 133 Laps
7. Esteban Ocon - Renault - +1.026 - 62 Laps
8. Daniel Ricciardo - Renault - +1.118 - 26 Laps
9. George Russell - Williams - +1.190 - 73 Laps
10. Lance Stroll - Racing Point - +1.306 - 27 Laps
11. Charles Leclrec - Ferrari - +1.313 - 104 Laps
12. Nicholas Latfi - Williams - +1.406 - 54 Laps
13. Robert Kubica - Alfa Romeo - +1.410 - 59 Laps
14. Kevin Magnussen - Haas - +1.490 - 92 Laps
15. Antonio Giovinazzi - Alfa Romeo - +3.120 - 48 Laps
15:35: Daniel Ricciardo has started his first laps of the winter tests wearing a plain purple helmet. This morning he added a few words on there to pay tribute to the late Kobe Bryant - he has KB8 and KB24 written on either side, with 'Mamba Mentality' on the back in yellow.
15.23: Things we might be writing a lot in 2020 alert -- we have two Mercedes drivers at the top of the order. Hamilton has set the quickest time of the day, a 1:17.293, which was 0.2s quicker than teammate Bottas managed in his morning session.
Times at this stage are hardly representative with teams yet to really unleash the performance of their cars, but it will be an ominous sight to any fan who has followed F1 in recent years.
14:20: Verstappen dips a wheel onto the gravel and unsurprisingly ends up facing the wrong way.
He gets going again quickly without any further drama, but it shows how these drivers are still learning the details of their cars at this point.
14.10: Hamilton is the first man out for the afternoon session, and he is racing his way around the track.
13.00: That's it for the morning session as everybody heads in for a one-hour lunch break. Testing will get back underway at 2 p.m. until 6 p.m local time.
1. Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes - 1:17.313 - 79 Laps
2. Sergio Perez - Racing Point - +0.062 - 58 Laps
3. Max Verstappen - Red Bull - +0.475 - 91 Laps
4. Carlos Sainz - McLaren - +0.688 - 64 Laps
5. Esteban Ocon - Renault - +0.691 - 62 Laps
6. George Russell - Williams - +0.855 - 17 Laps
7. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari - +0.976 - 13 laps
8. Robert Kubica - Alfa Romeo - +1.073 - 8 Laps
9. Kevin Magnussen - Haas - +1.153 - 7 Laps
10. Daniil Kvyat - Alpha Turi - +1.171 - 12 Laps
Driver lineup
Mercedes: Valtteri Bottas (morning), Lewis Hamilton (afternoon)
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc
Red Bull: Max Verstappen
McLaren: Carlos Sainz
Renault: Esteban Ocon (morning), Daniel Ricciardo (afternoon)
Alpha Tauri: Daniil Kvyat
Racing Point: Lance Stroll (morning), Sergio Perez (afternoon)
Alfa Romeo: Robert Kubica (morning), Antonio Giovinazzi (afternoon)
Haas: Kevin Magnussen
Williams: George Russell (morning), Nicholas Latifi (afternoon)
12.50: In case you missed it, here are your 2020 Formula One racing stars.
Our 2020 line-up 🤩#F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/yLxxyf7mWV
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 19, 2020
12:40: F1 banned teams from hiding behind screens in their garage ahead of this year's testing.
Charles Leclerc has been the first 'victim' of showing something he shouldn't -- a photographer's lense has snapped Leclerc with some notes about his first impressions of the 2020 car.
There's talk of understeer through long, high-speed corners such as Turn 10, 11 and 15. Leclerc and the team might have to start writing in code...
. @Charles_Leclerc showing the notes he took during testing 👀
— Charles Leclerc Fan Page (@LeclercNews) February 19, 2020
📸 : via @Gianludale27 #F1 #Testing pic.twitter.com/ustJPWBK4s
12.15: Update from the track. Every team appears to have hit the ground running this preseason. All 10 completed filming days -- 100km of running -- ahead of this. That might not seem significant, but it ensured no wasted time this morning doing system checks. We haven't seen any team suffering any major drama so far, another reminder of how stable the regulations are between last year and this year. 2021, of course, is a different story entirely...Formula One
11.30: An unwell Sebastian Vettel has been benched for the first day of testing, but he did feature in the pre-race photographs on the pit straight prior to the session.
"Change of plan: Seb not feeling great this morning so Charles is taking over driving duties for the day," a Ferrari spokesperson said.
11.20: Another update on the latest times....
1. Sergio Perez - Racing Point - 1:17.375 - 24 Laps
2. Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes - +0.160 - 46 Laps
3. Max Verstappen - Red Bull - +0.412 - 53 Laps
4. Carlos Sainz - McLaren - +0.626 - 42 Laps
5. Esteban Ocon - Renault - +0.667 - 28 Laps
6. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari - +1.019 - 34 Laps
7. George Russell - Williams - +1.159 - 38 Laps
8. Kevin Magnussen - Haas - +1.183 - 30 Laps
9. Robert Kubica - Alfa Romeo - +2.541 - 22 Laps
10. Daniil Kvyat - Alpha Tauri - +2.759 - 27 Laps
10.40: Verstappen currently leading the way in terms of mileage, with 36 laps to Sainz's 34. Valtteri Bottas has just set the fastest time so far, though, clocking in at 1:17.833.
10.25: Already lots of intrigue around the new cars on show. Renault is running a super slim nose, which looks great, while the Racing Point car looks like a 2019 Mercedes painted pink.
10.00: After the first hour of testing, eight drivers have set a time....
1. Carlos Sainz - McLaren - 1:18.423 - 16 Laps
2. Sergio Perez - Racing Point - +0.475 - 11 Laps
3. Esteban Ocon - Renault - +1.195 - 14 Laps
4. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari - +1.263 - 13 Laps
5. Max Verstappen - Red Bull - +1.375 - 21 Laps
6. Kevin Magnussen - Haas - +1.638 - 9 Laps
7. Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes - +3.203 - 18 Laps
09.32: Nate Saunders writes: It's that time again, where teams will fit these funky aero rakes to the sides of their cars. It might look it has been driven through a fence by mistake but these serve an important purpose, measuring the flow of air around the vehicle.
09.15: Gulp. Strong start by Mercedes, with Bottas leading the way in terms of mileage early on. Not unusual to see the world champions hit the ground running on the first day. We'll be keeping a close eye on the respective lap counts of the Ferrari and Red Bull.
09.00: And we are... GO! The lights go green and the first car out on track is Williams' Russell. Williams missed the first two and a half days of testing and they were keen to make a statement about their readiness ahead of this test. Great way to do that here.
08.45: Change of plans already at Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel is not feeling well today, so Charles Leclerc will take over driving duties for the four-time world champion.
08.30: And now for something completely different... the drivers are all together on the grid for some promotional shots. Usually the first time we see them do something like this is ahead of the Australian Grand Prix but F1 doing things a little differently this year.
That's more like it. The drivers are told to envision their goals for the year and "look tough" as the camera comes by them pic.twitter.com/9LzCREWCER
— Laurence Edmondson (@EdmondsonESPNF1) February 19, 2020
08.15: Two more reveals in the paddock. Officially it's just one, as we'd already seen the Haas. Alfa Romeo has taken the covers off its 2020 challenger this morning, and its a beaut. The snakeskin livery it used for its filming day is gone and its red and white colour scheme is back. Roll on the new season!
No surprises with Alfa Romeo's livery. Snakeskin gone, white and red on #AlfaRomeo #C39 pic.twitter.com/Mv24xaqi5I
— Laurence Edmondson (@EdmondsonESPNF1) February 19, 2020
First pit lane car reveal of the year (albeit a car we've already seen). It feels like F1 2020 is properly underway now #Haas #VF20 pic.twitter.com/MeCQQzb8JX
— Laurence Edmondson (@EdmondsonESPNF1) February 19, 2020
Nate Saunders writes: Nice buzz in the paddock this morning ahead of the day. Driving in there was a cluster of fans holding a Robert Kubica flag -- he's in the Alfa Romeo today but is their reserve driver for the rest of the season -- a reminder of the Polish driver's fervent fan base. In a break from preseason tradition, the drivers will line up for a photo together on the grid before the session officially starts.
08.00: Two pitlane launches to come before the session officially starts -- Haas will have a photocall with their VF16, while Alfa Romeo will take the covers off a car running its 2020 livery. Alfa already completed laps of Fiorano last week, but did so in a temporary snakeskin livery.