Norris tops opening practice in Barcelona as Ferrari hit snag

Lando Norris has topped the first practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, setting a 1:14.228 to open the weekend in strong fashion.

The Briton's fastest lap time was only marginally faster than that of Max Verstappen, who narrowly ended the session behind the McLaren driver.

The session was hit with a red flag with just over 20 minutes to go when a piece of debris dislodged from Fernando Alonso's car on the exit of Turn 9.

Ferrari endured a somewhat challenging session, with Carlos Sainz reporting in the opening minutes that he had no power.

However, he was able to change the settings on his steering wheel and fix the issue on track before ending the session in third place.

Team-mate Charles Leclerc had a more torrid time, commenting the car was “horrendous” to drive before complaining of a clutch problem towards the end of the session, finishing outside of the top 10.

George Russell was fourth in the leading Mercedes, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton occupying seventh place.

Sergio Perez was fifth as he aims to bounce back from a difficult run of races behind the RB20 Red Bull challenger, ahead of Oscar Piastri.

Esteban Ocon was eighth fastest for Alpine, who announced earlier today that it had signed Flavio Briatore as an executive advisor.

Despite his mishap with damage over a kerb that resulted in the session's only red flag, Fernando Alonso was ninth at the chequered flag, with Alex Albon rounding out the top 10.