Malaysian GP: Free Practice #1 - Re-Cap & Times

MALAYSIAN GP - FREE PRACTICE #1 - RE-CAP & TIMES

    Max Verstappen led a Red Bull one-two in the first free practice session ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix. He and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo spent the later part of the 90 minutes swapping times at the top of the order, but it was Verstappen who ended fastest with a 1m48.962s lap around the wet Sepang track.

    The start of FP1 was delayed by half an hour due to the weather, and it was close to the one hour mark when the first time of the morning was set by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. The track dried over the course of the morning but never enough for a driver to venture out on slick tyres.

    Fernando Alonso finished third fastest, despite only completing six laps. The McLaren driver spent a long time in the pits after running the halo early in the session, but ventured back out without the head protection device later to set his fastest lap. The lap put him two tenths of a second fastest than Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in fourth.

    After setting the first timed lap of the day, it was Vettel’s last minute lap that put him fifth in the timings. The 1m51.009s was more than two seconds slower than Verstappen, but faster than Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas behind him.

    Lance Stroll took eighth quickest whilst team-mate Felipe Massa failed to set a time. Hydraulics problems confined Massa to the pits for most of the morning, and he only managed three laps in total.

    Making his F1 debut this weekend, Pierre Gasly was ninth fastest in the Toro Rosso. Not only will Gasly be competing in his first race on Sunday, replacing Daniil Kvyat, the practice session was the first time the Frenchman has driven in an F1 race weekend. He was more than two seconds quicker than Sean Gelael, who was running in the other Toro Rosso for the session and finished the morning 14th.

    Sergey Sirotkin, running in the Renault, was 10th fastest, a tenth of a second quicker than Jolyon Palmer.

    Stoffel Vandoorne was 12th fastest ahead of Esteban Ocon. Ocon was seven tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Sergio Perez, who ended the morning 15th.

    Charles Leclerc, getting his first taste of a Sauber, was 16th fastest. The 1m55.280s lap was just enough to put him ahead of Sauber regular Pascal Wehrlein in 17th.

    Romain Grosjean and Antonio Giovinazzi completed the order.

TIMES:

1. Max Verstappen - 1:48.962 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Netherlands
2. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:49.719 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Australia
3. Fernando Alonso - 1:50.597 / McLaren-Honda / Spain
4. Kimi Raikkonen – 1:50.734 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland
5. Sebastian Vettel - 1:51.009 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany
6. Lewis Hamilton - 1:51.518 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain
7. Valtteri Bottas - 1:52.007 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Finland
8. Lance Stroll - 1:52.295 / Williams-Mercedes / Canada
9. Pierre Gasly - 1:52.380 / Toro Rosso-Renault / France
10. Sergey Sirotkin - 1:53.521 / Renault-Renault / Russia*
11. Jolyon Palmer - 1:53.625 / Renault-Renault / Great Britain
12. Stoffel Vandoorne - 1:53.771 / McLaren-Honda / Belgium
13. Esteban Ocon - 1:53.896 / Force India-Mercedes / France
14. Sean Gelael - 1:54.610 / Toro Rosso-Renault / Indonesia*
15. Sergio Perez - 1:54.669 / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico
16. Charles Leclerc - 1:55.280 / Sauber-Ferrari / Monaco*
17. Pascal Wehrlein - 1:55.652 / Sauber-Ferrari / Germany
18. Romain Grosjean - 1:56.211 / Haas-Ferrari / France
19. Antonio Giovinazzi - 1:56.339 / Haas-Ferrari / Italy*
20. Felipe Massa – NO TIME SET / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil

* - Driving in FP1 only.

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Article Written By: Bethonie Waring
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