Sawt Falasteen - Mercedes' Russell quickest in opening Barcelona F1 practice

Charles Leclerc in his upgraded Ferrari came in half-a-second behind Russell's top time of 1:16.363, with the Mercedes driver needing the morale boost after weeks of struggle.

Russell's team-mate, teenage sensation and championship leader Kimi Antonelli, was not involved as one of seven regulars sitting out the session to allow rookies to participate.

Each full-time driver is mandated to give up a seat for youngsters and reserve drivers twice in the campaign and many sat out in Barcelona, which is often used for testing sessions for junior drivers.

Fred Vesti replaced Antonelli, seeking a sixth straight triumph on Sunday, while Formula 2 driver Dino Beganovic stood in for Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Leo Fornaroli came in for McLaren's 2025 world champion Lando Norris.

Fornaroli was the top placing rookie, taking fifth from Estonian Paul Aron on a sunny, hot day at Montmelo.

Alpine reserve driver Aron, called on by Audi to replace Nico Hulkenberg, ended up sixth, while in the other Audi Gabriel Bortoleto struggled and hit the gravel complaining his car was unstable and had "zero grip".

Russell, who was favourite for the championship at the start of the season but has been outshone by team-mate Antonelli, set the early pace with a time of 1:17.353.

The Briton was followed by Piastri, two tenths of a second behind, and Leclerc, all on medium tyres.

Max Verstappen, who stalled at lights-out in Monaco, was on softs and edged ahead of Russell at 1:17.047, although he ultimately was fourth-quickest.

The Mercedes driver responded with his own soft tyres bolted on and set a new best of 1:16.363. Piastri, with softs too, moved into second but nobody could match Russell.

Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson was seventh, with Beganovic eighth, Arvid Lindblad ninth and Franco Colapinto completing the top 10.

Williams' Carlos Sainz started off stuck in the pit lane, while rookie Luke Browning could not get out of the garage in the second car because of an electrical issue.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly was boosted by the news that his third place finish in Monaco was reinstated but struggled in 17th on the timesheet, complaining of a potential suspension problem.

H.Darwish--SF-PST