Spanish GP: Free Practice #1 - RE-CAP & TIMES

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

    Valtteri Bottas leads the order in a Virtual Safety Car interrupted free practice one in Spain.

    The Mercedes driver set consistent fast laps throughout the session to end the morning with a 1m18.148s lap time around the Barcelona circuit, 0.849s faster than team-mate Lewis Hamilton in second.

    Many of the drivers were caught out by the cool, windy conditions, with plenty spinning and running off throughout the morning.

    Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was the first casualty of the weekend, running into the barriers after suffering oversteer at turn 14. The incident brought out the virtual safety car and ended his session, leaving him seventh quickest.

    Around half an hour later, the virtual safety car was deployed again, this time for Lance Stroll, who had beached his Williams at turn five.

    Late improvements from the Ferrari duo allowed Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen to jump up the order. They were running third and fourth, with Vettel ahead of Raikkonen, until Max Verstappen split the pair just before the chequered flag.

    Fernando Alonso was best of the rest in sixth, followed by Ricciardo, Romain Grosjean, and Stoffel Vandoorne.

    Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10.

    Kevin Magnussen found himself on the receiving end of another complaint at the end of the session. The Haas driver was on a cool down lap when the Sauber of Charles Leclerc pulled alongside him. Magnussen appeared to move over into Leclerc, pushing the Sauber close to the pit wall.

    The pair finished 11th and 12th, ahead of Sergio Perez, Marcus Ericsson, and Carlos Sainz.

    Robert Kubica was the only Friday driver competing in the session, replacing Sergey Sirotkin at Williams for FP1. The session was Kubica’s first official F1 session since the end of 2010, but he didn’t get the chance to wow spectators, finishing 19th, 1.246s ahead of team-mate Stroll.

    Esteban Ocon finished 16th, followed by Nico Hulkenberg and Brendon Hartley.

TIMES:

1. Valtteri Bottas - 1:18.148 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Finland
2. Lewis Hamilton - 1:18.997 / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain
3. Sebastian Vettel - 1:19.098 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany
4. Max Verstappen - 1:19.187 / Red Bull Racing-TAG-Heuer / Netherlands
5. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:19.499 / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland
6. Fernando Alonso - 1:19.858 / McLaren-Renault / Spain
7. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:19.871 / Red Bull Racing-TAG-Heuer / Australia
8. Romain Grosjean - 1:19.906 / Haas-Ferrari / France
9. Stoffel Vandoorne - 1:20.083 / McLaren-Renault / Belgium
10. Pierre Gasly - 1:20.508 / Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda / France
11. Kevin Magnussen - 1:20.637 / Haas-Ferrari / Denmark
12. Charles Leclerc - 1:20.665 / Sauber-Ferrari / Monaco
13. Sergio Perez - 1:20.924 / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico
14. Marcus Ericsson - 1:20.984 / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden
15. Carlos Sainz - 1:21.053 / Renault-Renault / Spain
16. Esteban Ocon - 1:21.144 / Force India-Mercedes / France
17. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:21.159 / Renault-Renault / Germany
18. Brendon Hartley - 1:21.373 / Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda / New Zealand
19. Robert Kubica - 1:21.510 / Williams-Mercedes / Poland
20. Lance Stroll - 1:22.756 / Williams-Mercedes / Canada

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Article Written By: Bethonie Waring
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