Lewis Hamilton started his 2020 Formula 1 campaign with a powerful statement of intent as he topped the first day of pre-season testing. Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas shared the driving for Mercedes and ended the day first and second fastest. The world champion was 0.337 seconds quicker than Bottas, who headed Racing Point’s Sergio Perez by 0.062secs. Bottas described the day as “a nice starting point” and said: “The car feels good.” Team-mate Charles Leclerc took over instead and ended the day only 11th fastest. George Russell: “It’s definitely an improvement on last year.”

Follow MotorMouth on social media:

• 
• 
• 
•