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

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

    Lewis Hamilton led the first practice session of the weekend by breaking the track record with a 1:09.202.

    The Mercedes driver recently secured his 4th Drivers' Championship title during the previous race weekend in Mexico. Team-mate, Bottas, took 2nd in the session with a 1:09.329. Rounding up the top 5 were Raikkonen, Verstappen and Ricciardo.

    Force India chose to run 19-year-old GP3 Champion George Russell in place of Sergio Perez. A great opportunity for the British Driver, who will most likely be driving for ART Grand Prix in Formula 2 next year. There are rumours his team-mate could be Lando Norris, the newly recruited McLaren reserve driver. Russell finished the session in 12th with a 1:11.047.

    Charles Leclerc also ran in this session in place of Pascal Wehrlein at Sauber. Leclerc, who won the Formula 2 title this year, is looking for his chance at an F1 seat in 2018. While most seats have been filled, there are hopes that Sauber would take him for a full-time season if Wehrlein is to not be re-signed. Leclerc's fastest time of the session was a 1:11.802.

    Toro Rosso endured a painful day as both Hartley and Gasly suffered from engine issues that left them missing most of the session. They both also gained more grid penalties after needing engine component replacements. Gasly finished in 19th and Hartley ended up in 20th after being unable to even set a time. A session to forget overall for the Italian team.

    Max Verstappen, who went from bad to good luck during this season, reported struggling majorly with his tyres. He even used some 'choice' words to describe how they were feeling as he lapped the circuit. Despite this, he still finished in 4th with a 1:09.750.

TIMES:

1. Lewis Hamilton - 1:09.202 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain

2. Valtteri Bottas - 1:09.329 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Finland

3. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:09.744 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland

4. Max Verstappen - 1:09.750 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Netherlands

5. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:09.828 / Red Bull-TAG-Heuer / Australia

6. Sebastian Vettel - 1:09.984 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany

7. Felipe Massa - 1:10.102 / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil

8. Stoffel Vandoorne - 1:10.402 / McLaren-Honda / Belgium

9. Esteban Ocon - 1:10.454 / Force India-Mercedes / France

10. Fernando Alonso - 1:10.476 / McLaren-Honda / Spain

11. Lance Stroll - 1:10.632 / Williams-Mercedes / Canada

12. George Russell - 1:11.047 / Force India-Mercedes / Great Britain*

13. Romain Grosjean - 1:11.188 / Haas-Ferrari / France

14. Kevin Magnussen - 1:11.463 / Haas-Ferrari / Denmark

15. Carlos Sainz - 1:11.467 / Renault-Renault / Spain

16. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:11.608 / Renault-Renault / Germany

17. Charles Leclerc - 1:11.802 / Sauber-Ferrari / Monaco

18. Marcus Ericsson - 1:11.898 / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden

19. Pierre Gasly - 1:14.034 / Toro Rosso-Renault / France

20. Brendon Hartley - NO TIME SET / Toro Rosso-Renault / New Zealand

* - Notes driving in FP#1 only.

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

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