Bottas manages to claim fastest lap for Mercedes in Barcelona test

Valtteri Bottas continued the Mercedes domination of Formula One with the fastest lap in testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Tuesday. The Finn, second in the championship after losing to team mate Lewis Hamilton in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, lapped with a best time of one minute 15.511 seconds.

The time was slower than his Saturday pole of 1:15.406 but still considerably quicker than Hamilton's best lap in qualifying. Bottas also did 131 laps, the equivalent of almost two race distances.

Champions Mercedes have won all of the first five races of the season with one-two finishes. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was second fastest in 1:16.933 with Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat third on the timesheets in 1:17.679.

Canadian Nicholas Latifi, the Williams reserve driver, covered the most distance with 134 laps but was also the slowest. Britain's Callum Ilott tested for Alfa Romeo but crashed heavily in the afternoon, escaping injury but damaging the car.

(With inputs from agencies.)