Finn Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) set the fastest time in the first free practice of the British Grand Prix, at the 10th round of the Formula 1 World Championship, at the Silverstone circuit on Friday. Under capricious skies, Bottas is 532/1000th ahead of his former Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton of Britain, followed by the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz, 3rd and Charles Leclerc.
Reigning world champion and championship leader Max Verstappen of the Netherlands is one of ten drivers (out of 20) who did not sign time, as did team-mate Sergio Perez or Britain’s George Russell (Mercedes). With British skies declared unsettled this weekend, none of the pilots completed ten laps in this first session, which was marked by one red flag. The question is Canadian Lance Stroll’s (Aston Martin) track exit at the very end of the session, thus marking the end of testing.
Mercedes, like Alpine and Williams, arrived at Silverstone with a number of changes to their single-seaters. For the Silver Arrows, it’s about getting back on track after a difficult start to the season due to the new rules. Therefore, these first tests were critical in evaluating these improvements.
1st free practice.
Valtteri Bottas (Fin/Alfa Romeo) 1:42.249 (9 laps)
Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 1:42.781 (10)
Carlos Sainz Jr. (ESP/Ferrari) 1:42.967 (8)
Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) 1:43.801 (7)
Mick Schumacher (GER/Haas-Ferrari) 1:43.895 (3)
Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Alfa Romeo) 1:46.171 (4)
Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas-Ferrari) 1:48.161 (3)
Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:51.243 (5)
Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri-Red Bull) 1:51.373 (5)
Sebastian Vettel (GER/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:59.168 (5)
George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) 0.000 (2)
Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull) 0.000 (3)
Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine-Renault) 0.000 (2)
Fernando Alonso (ESP/Alpine-Renault) 0.000 (1)
Alexander Albon (THA/Williams-Mercedes) 0.000 (1)
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/McLaren-Mercedes) 0.000 (4)
Pierre Gasly (FRA/AlphaTauri-Red Bull) 0.000 (3)
Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) 0.000 (4)
Nicolas Latifi (CAN/Williams-Mercedes) 0.000 (1)
Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull) 0.000 (3)
Source: Le Figaro
