The Manor Marussia F1 Team enjoyed a positive start to their Spanish Grand Prix weekend today with the first of the free practice sessions for Sunday's 66 lap race at the Circuit de Barcelona. Will Stevens ended the day in 19th position, ahead of his team-mate Roberto Merhi in 20th who is racing in F1 in front of his home crowd for the first time this weekend.

Will Stevens: "It's good to be back in the car. The past three weeks have felt like an eternity! We've made a positive start to the weekend, working steadily through our programme, and it's nice to be back at a more traditional circuit and one where we have a little more experience. There's more to come from the car but it's nice to get off to a trouble-free start."

Roberto Merhi: "It has been very enjoyable to be driving in front of my home crowd for the first time in an F1 car. It's a special feeling for sure. I'm reasonably pleased with how the day has gone. We've had another smooth day with no problems and this has helped me to get a good set-up rhythm. This morning I focused on an aero programme for the team and this afternoon it was good to get a feel for the option tyre. There is more work to do but a promising start."

John Booth, Team Principal: "It has been a good first day here at the Circuit de Barcelona, working to understand the aero update we have introduced for this weekend. Obviously it's a small step compared with those of the other teams at this stage of the season, but we're following our own development path so this is an important first update for us nonetheless. This morning's session was very good as we worked through our programme and then this afternoon we were pleased to see the option tyre working well for us, with good degradation."

Check out our Friday gallery, here.