Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel outgunned reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton to the fastest time as the 2016 Formula One season got underway with the the first test in Barcelona on Monday.
The Italian giants are expected to pose an even stronger challenge to Hamilton’s Mercedes this season after Vettel showed signs of a Ferrari revival by winning three races last season.
The four-time world champion was nearly half a second faster than Hamilton in a time of 1min 24.939sec.
However, after dominating the sport for the past two seasons, Mercedes’ reliability sent another warning shot to the rest of the paddock as Hamilton ran the most mileage with 66 laps before lunch.
Williams were again the best of the rest as Valtteri Bottas was third fastest.
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Mclaren-Honda made a significant improvement on their disastrous performances in testing last season which set up a hugely disappoining return season to the sport for the Japanese manufacturer.
Jenson Button managed 35 laps, but the MP4-31 was still well down on pace nearly three seconds behind Vettel in sixth fastest.
Haas, the first American owned team in Formula One for 30 years, took their first tentative steps as Romain Grosjean logged 13 laps, but his session was ended prematurely by a broken front wing that temporarily stopped running.
Manor Racing were the only team to struggle mightily as new German recruit Pascal Wehrlein managed just seven laps and was over six seconds adrift of the field.
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Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
