Trips to gravel bedding, cornering, and forced breakage after collision: During the first free training session at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on Friday, Formula 1 drivers still had to grapple with adjustment problems on the track in Imola.
Perpetual knowledge of the balance of power in the duel between world champion Lewis Hamilton and challenger Max Verstappen can only be gained to a limited extent in the session, which was shortened by around 15 minutes – the superstars were separated by 17 milliseconds.
Team Leader Red Bull Horner talks about a connection between Perez and Akon
The cause of the outage was an accident. Red Bull driver Sergio Perez (Mexico) spins after a hole in Villeneuve, Czech.
Alpine driver Esteban Ocon (France), who was driving behind him, had to stop his car. According to Red Bull head Christian Horner, the two cars had a connection.
Bottas As Fast As Time – Ferrari Strong
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas set the best time in cold temperatures at 1: 16.564 minutes. The Finn was ahead of teammate Hamilton (1: 16.605) and Verstappen (1: 16.622). Ferrari made a good impression in the first leg with Charles Leclerc in fourth (+0.23) and sixth for Carlos Sainz (+0.32).
Vettel is 14th – Schumacher, behind Mazpin
Sebastian Vettel finished in Aston Martin (+1.42) training in 14th place. Rookie Mick Schumacher (+2.91) was nineteenth in Haas, slower than teammate Nikita Masbin (+2.25).
However, the Russian was one of the losers in training. Masbin, who was knocked out on the first lap after a driving error in the season opener in Bahrain, fell into a gravel trap at the start of training. At the end of the session, he turned around again and touched the wall.
Free first exercise results at a glance
1. Valtteri Bottas (Finland), Mercedes 1: 16.564, 2. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain), Mercedes 1: 16.605, 3. Max Verstappen (Netherlands), Red Bull Honda 1: 16.622, 4. Charles Leclerc (Monaco) Ferrari 1: 16.796 5th Pierre Gasly (France) AlphaTauri-Honda 1: 16.888, 6th Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain) Ferrari 1: 16.888, 7 Fernando Alonso (Spain) Alpine Renault 1: 17.457, 8th Lance Stroll (Canada) Aston Martin Mercedes 1: 17.489, 9 Nicholas Latifi (Canada) Williams Mercedes 1: 17.739, 10. Daniel Ricardo ( Australia) McLaren – Mercedes 1: 17.769, 11. George Russell (Great Britain) Williams – Mercedes 1: 17.866, 12. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Alfa Romeo – Ferrari 1: 17.883, 13. Lando Norris (Great Britain) McLaren – Mercedes 1: 17.935, Sebastian Vettel XIV (Heppenheim) Aston Martin – Mercedes 1: 17.984, 15 Antonio Giovinazzi (Italy) Alfa Romeo – Ferrari 1: 18.058, 16 Sergio Perez (Mexico) Red Bull – Honda 1: 18.228, 17 Esteban Ocon (France) Alpine Renault 1: 18.360, 18 Nikita Masbin (Russia) Hass-Ferrari 1: 18.823, 19 Mick Schumacher (Gland / Switzerland) Hass-Ferrari 1: 19.480, 20 Yuki Tsunoda (Japan) Alpha Toure-Honda 1: 19.781
Sports Information Service (SID)
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