Spanish Grand Prix 2017 Qualifying: Results, Times from Friday's F1 Practice

Lewis Hamilton led both of the opening practice sessions ahead of the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix on Friday as Mercedes took the top two spots in the morning and the afternoon.

Valtteri Bottas was extremely close behind his team-mate on both occasions—just 0.029 and 0.090 seconds, respectively, in fact—while Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari followed the Silver Arrows pair in Catalunya, with the latter missing part of the first session because of gearbox problems with his car.

Read on for a closer look at how the practice played out.

FP2 Recap

Here are the timings from the second practice session, per Formula One's official Twitter account:

In contrast to FP1, Vettel made a stronger start this time around alongside Bottas and Raikkonen:

The temperature had risen considerably between the two practice sessions in the sunshine, but the drivers also had windy conditions to deal with.

Both Hamilton and Stoffel Vandoorne both strayed off the track at Turn 13 within minutes of one another, while Verstappen did the same at Turn 9 into the gravel.

A tyre change saw Vettel top the timings with a much-improved lap:

However, his Ferrari team-mate and the two Mercedes quickly surpassed him one by one with each setting the quickest time as they did so until Hamilton was on top once again.

Raikkonen, who also appeared to encounter some engine trouble late on, had a close call with Sergio Perez's Force India but came through unscathed:

Ultimately, Mercedes had the edge over Ferrari in both sessions, but once again there was relatively little to separate the two—Hamilton and Bottas could lock out the top spots in Saturday's qualifying, but it's hardly beyond Raikkonen or Vettel to get their noses in front on Sunday's grid.

FP1 Recap

Formula One's official Twitter account provided the timings from Friday's morning session:

McLaren's Fernando Alonso was the last out on track, but the Spaniard's practice lasted mere moments as he quickly encountered significant problems:

With the yellow flags deployed, Alonso's car had to be lifted off the track at just Turn 2.

Vettel fared little better early on, per the Press Association's Phil Duncan:

Felipe Massa was the early pacesetter as the cars made their way around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, though he was soon surpassed by Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen before Hamilton left both in his wake.

After some time in the pits, Vettel was able to return to the track, but the German was unable to trouble the two Mercedes.

Reigning Spanish Grand Prix champion Max Verstappen had ambitions of a late push, but events conspired to prevent him from doing so as he got caught in traffic behind Nico Hulkenberg, while Kevin Magnussen's exit from the track at Turn 4 with technical issues necessitated the virtual safety car.

He and the Ferrari duo will hope to improve on their times in the afternoon.