Verstappen quickest in Brazilian FP1

Verstappen quickest in Brazilian FP1

VERSTAPPEN EDGES VETTEL AND HAMILTON TO TOP FIRST PRACTICE IN BRAZIL

Max Verstappen went quickest in a closely contested opening practice session for the Brazlian Grand Prix, with the Red Bull Racing driver finishing just five hundredths of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Sebsatian Vettel and just under a tenth of a second clear of recently crowned 2018 champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.

Drivers from the top three teams traded fast laps throughout the opening hour of the session, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo initially leading the way with a time of 1m10.139s. That mark was soon bypassed by Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen and then by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.

All three would be eventually eclipsed by their team-mates, however, with Hamilton rising to top of the order just after the hour mark on supersoft tyres with a lap of 1:09.107.

Verstappen was close behind on track, though, and when he crossed the line he managed to shave 0.049s off Hamilton’s benchmark to claim honours in the session with a time of 1:09.011. Vettel then split the Red Bull and Mercedes driver with a lap of 1:09.060s.

Early pacesetter Ricciardo finished fourth, almost four tenths of a second off the pace of his teammate, while Räikkönen ended the session in fifth place 0.562 adrift of Verstappen. The Finn set his best times on soft tyres, however. Was left to anchor the top six with a best time of 1:09.679.

Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen gave Haas definitive best-of-the-rest stus with the Frenchman finishing in seventh place, three tenths of a second ahead of his Danish team-mate. Grosjean was the last driver within a second of Verstappen’s best time.

Sauber’s Charles Leclerc took ninth place in the session with a time of 1:10.346m while Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon was tenth, 1.3s behind Verstappen.

 

1    Max Verstappen    Red Bull/Renault    1m09.011s    -    16
2    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    1m09.060s    0.049s    20
3    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1m09.107s    0.096s    28
4    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull/Renault    1m09.395s    0.384s    23
5    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    1m09.573s    0.562s    28
6    Valtteri Bottas    Mercedes    1m09.679s    0.668s    23
7    Romain Grosjean    Haas/Ferrari    1m09.922s    0.911s    28
8    Kevin Magnussen    Haas/Ferrari    1m10.236s    1.225s    15
9    Charles Leclerc    Sauber/Ferrari    1m10.346s    1.335s    28
10    Esteban Ocon    Force India/Mercedes    1m10.361s    1.350s    34
11    Carlos Sainz    Renault    1m10.662s    1.651s    34
12    Nico Hulkenberg    Renault    1m10.679s    1.668s    34
13    Antonio Giovinazzi    Sauber/Ferrari    1m10.685s    1.674s    29
14    Lance Stroll    Williams/Mercedes    1m10.799s    1.788s    30
15    Pierre Gasly    Toro Rosso/Honda    1m10.934s    1.923s    30
16    Lando Norris    McLaren/Renault    1m11.013s    2.002s    28
17    Sergey Sirotkin    Williams/Mercedes    1m11.037s    2.026s    30
18    Brendon Hartley    Toro Rosso/Honda    1m11.176s    2.165s    32
19    Stoffel Vandoorne    McLaren/Renault    1m11.452s    2.441s    23
20    Nicholas Latifi    Force India/Mercedes    1m11.493s    2.482s    34

Click here for the official Kimi Raikkonen web site designed and built by Racecar


Related Motorsport Articles

84,520 articles