Valtteri Bottas ended the opening morning of the final in-season test of the 201🥃9 Formula 1 season quickest for Mercedes as the🅰 team picked up where it left off in Barcelona.

Taking the reins of the Mercedes W10 car for the first day of running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Bottas managed to set a fastest lap time of 1m16.๊525s through the four-hour morning session, giving him top spot by seven-tenths of a second.

The only uneasy moment of Bottas' morning came when Mercedes misjudged where it had placed a number of cones at its garage, cꦗausing the Finn to get one stuck to a sensor grill that was placed on the car. It w🦩as quickly removed once he had returned to the pits.

Bottas will complete the afternoon before handing the car over to Formula 2 driver Nikita Mazepin on Wednesday💃.

Ferrari began its search for answers after aওiling to a fifth defeat of the year to Mercedes in Sunday's race, with Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel both out on-track.

Leclerc finished the session P2, while Vettel - tasked with Pirelli tyre development duty ahead of the 2020 seasﷺon - was fifth-ꦜfastest.

Carlos Sainz took third for McLaren ahead of Red Bull's Pierre Ga𝔍sly, with Toro Rosso drive𝄹r Daniil Kvyat following Vettel in seventh.

Pietro Fittipaldi got his latest run-out in for Haas on Tuesday, fin🥃ishing the m꧙orning eighth ahead of Racing Point's Sergio Perez - also on Pirelli duty - and Renault's Nico Hulkenberg.

Racing Point simulator driver Nick Yelloly made his first F1 test appearance in three years and wound up P10 ahead of Ferrari youngster Callum Ilott, who got his firs🏅t taste of F1 machinery with Alfa Romeo on Tuesday.

🐲F2 championship leader Nicholas Latifi propped up ☂the timesheets in P12 for Williams.