HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from FP1 in Barcelona as Russell sets the pace and plenty of rookies get a run out

Mercedes driver George Russell topped the timesheets during Friday’s first practice session for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, leading the way from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Russell worked his way down to a best time of 1m 16.363s on Pirelli’s soft compound tyres to lead Piastri by two-tenths of a second, with Leclerc three-tenths further back in third place.

Around those pace-setting times, no fewer than seven teams took the opportunity to field rookie drivers: Frederik Vesti (Mercedes), Dino Beganovic (Ferrari), Leonardo Fornaroli (McLaren), Ayumu Iwasa (Red Bull), Luke Browning (Williams), Paul Aron (Audi) and Colton Herta (Cadillac) all due to run.

Fornaroli was the fastest of that group, putting Lando Norris’ McLaren fifth, but it was a frustrating session for Browning, who remained stuck in the Williams garage for the full hour due to an electrical issue.

Hit go on the video player above to watch the highlights from FP1 in Barcelona.

Highlights Barcelona-Catalunya McLaren Lando Norris FP2