Practice One topped by Valtteri Bottas from the championship's top two in a closely-fought start at the Circuit de Catalunya; McLaren's Lando Norris again starts well, as do the Aston Martins.
Bottas, who on Thursday robustly batted away a report suggesting his Mercedes seat was under imminent threat, edged out Red Bull's Verstappen by 0.033s in the opening session, with championship leader Hamilton just over a tenth back in third place.
Lando Norris, 2021's early form driver alongside Hamilton and Verstappen, was fourth for McLaren ahead of the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Nikita Mazepin was the only other driver to spin, although the Haas driver was able to continue his session after dropping it through the Turn Seven-Eight chicane.
Gasly's counterpart Yuki Tsunoda missed part of the session stuck in the garage but emerged to set the 11th-fastest lap. Between Tsunoda and Vettel were Perez (P9) and Aston Martin's Lance Stroll in 10th.
As for Alpine, home favourite Alonso took 15th overall and Esteban Ocon 12th in the session as Alonso began on softs and ended on hards – his teammate (and all others bar the Ferraris) doing the opposite.
Standings:-
| 2021 F1 SPANISH GRAND PRIX - FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (1) | ||||
| POS | DRIVER | NAT. | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1m18.504s |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | NED | Red Bull Racing | 1m18.537s |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 1m18.627s |
| 4 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team | 1m18.944s |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1m19.020s |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow | 1m19.051s |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1m19.062s |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1m19.234s |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Red Bull Racing | 1m19.349s |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team | 1m19.429s |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | JPN | Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | 1m19.669s |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | Alpine F1 Team | 1m19.681s |
| 13 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ITA | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1m19.694s |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | McLaren F1 Team | 1m19.732s |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Alpine F1 Team | 1m19.950s |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Williams Racing | 1m20.270s |
| 17 | Roy Nissany | ISR | Williams Racing | 1m20.700s |
| 18 | Mick Schumacher | GER | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1m20.766s |
| 19 | Robert Kubica | POL | Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen | 1m21.887s |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | RUS | Uralkali Haas F1 Team | 1m21.976s |
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