Problems for Vettel early on in free practice

Big upgrades were in focus on the first day of free practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, and early on there were problems for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel rolled to a halt exiting the pits half an hour into FP1.

Ferrari have a host of upgrades in Barcelona, and were embarking on an intensie tyesting stint in the first ninety minutes of track action at Circuit de Catalunya.

But whatever plans they had were interrupted by the mishap on a SF70-H, which Vettel reported over the radio: "An issue with the gearbox, there's something broken. I've parked the car."

The car was pushed back to the Ferrari pit garage enabling the team to establish the source of the problem and after about 20 minutes Vettel was back out on track.

Early on in the session Fernando Alonso's McLaren parked up at the side of the track the smoking Honda engine suggesting yet another issue with the problematic power unit. Report here>>>