The Latest Breaking News from Lewis Hamilton

At the start of the 60-minute session, AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries set the first-place benchmark at 1m17.918s during the opening laps using the prototype compound construction set to become standard across Pirelli’s range from the upcoming British GP, which several other runners sampled early on too.

F1 fans have been denied a title race so far this year with Red Bull a cut above the rest, but Perez explained his belief that is likely to change later in the season

Mercedes’ long-awaited developments to the sidepods of its W14 challenger – plus new suspension arrangement, tweaked floor, rear wing and rear brake winglets – finally appeared at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix, having initially been expected to run at Imola before that race was cancelled.

During a dry first stint of a mixed-weather Monaco race, Sainz was wedged in between third-placed Esteban Ocon and Lewis Hamilton when the latter was called into the pits by Mercedes on lap 33.

This season has seen Red Bull dominate the front of the field and there is little to suggest things will be different when F1 heads to Barcelona, a place that usually rewards the best cars more than most.

Red Bull continued their dominance at the Monaco Grand Prix, but Sergio Perez's crash in qualifying allowed Mercedes a chance to collect valuable information about their rivals

The Monte Carlo weekend proved to be an eye-opener for teams as the often well-hidden underside of some of the top contenders – including the Red Bull and Mercedes – were shown off as cars were retrieved on cranes.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell form an all-British driver lineup at Mercedes, but one of them would need to go if Charles Leclerc were to make the switch from Ferrari

F1 is back in Spain for the Spanish Grand Prix live streams, the seventh leg of the 2023 F1 season. Here's how to watch it live and for FREE, wherever you are.