BARCELONA, Spain – Valtteri Bottas continued his strong start to the season by leading both Formula One practice sessions Friday at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Bottas set the overall fast time of the day in his Mercedes entry during the second practice session. His fast lap of 1:17.284 was .049 of a second better than that of his teammate and reigning Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton.

Both Mercedes drivers were testing out new parts during the opening day of practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, but it didn’t appear to slow either driver down.

“It’s always an interesting day when you’re bringing new parts to the car to get a feel for it and see if they bring the performance they should,” said Bottas. “The car felt really good today, completely different to how it was in winter testing, and it seems like our cornering performance has improved. The balance around the lap is also better, so it looks like we’ve taken the right direction since the winter. Today was good, but it’s only Friday and Ferrari are very close. It feels like we’ve made a good step forward, but we need to wait and see what tomorrow holds.”

Charles Leclerc was third overall for Ferrari based on his fast lap in the second practice. Sebastian Vettel, Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate, was fourth overall. Max Verstappen’s Honda-powered Red Bull ended the day fifth overall.

The only major incident in either practice saw Lance Stroll crash his Racing Point entry in turn nine. The team was able to get his car back on track for the second practice, but without some of the upgraded parts the team planned to utilize.