Report

FP1: Bottas pips Hamilton in first practice for the Spanish GP as Vettel gets closer to Leclerc

Share
BARCELONA, SPAIN - AUGUST 14: Valtteri Bottas of Finland driving the (77) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1

Valtteri Bottas led a Mercedes 1-2 in the first practice session of the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton finished just 0.039s off and Max Verstappen was 0.9s slower in third place.

Bottas and Hamilton traded places at the top of the leaderboard throughout, but it was when they switched to soft tyres for their flying laps with around 30 minutes remaining that the table-topping time of 1m16.785s was set by the Finn.

READ MORE: How heat and tyres could shake things up in the Spanish Grand Prix

Hamilton was less than four-hundredths off Bottas but Red Bull’s Verstappen – who spent a lot of time running on hard tyres – was almost a second slower than the leading Silver Arrow.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fourth, 1.185s off top spot and just 0.011s faster than team mate Sebastian Vettel, who received a new chassis for this weekend after a “small fault” was found on his previous one, and he looked to be more comfortable with it as he put in a time much closer to his team mate than he managed at the last race weekend. Romain Grosjean was a surprise sixth for Haas, 1.506s off the pace.

Spain 2020

Practice 1 results

PositionTeam NameTime
1BOT1:16.785
2HAM+0.039s
3VER+0.939s
4LEC+1.185s
5VET+1.196s
View Full Results

The top six set their fastest laps on soft compounds but Racing Point’s Sergio Perez managed his on mediums, and he was 0.180s off Haas’s Grosjean by the end of the 90-minute session in seventh. Perez, who returns after missing the last two races following a positive Covid-19 test, spent his session getting back up to speed on the yellow-walled compound.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull with the other Haas of Kevin Magnussen just a hundredth off him in P9 and the second Racing Point of Lance Stroll rounding out the top 10.

READ MORE: Qualifying engine modes – What are the proposed changes and why do they matter?

That meant neither McLaren featured in the top 10, with home hero Carlos Sainz having received a new chassis for this weekend for a P11 finish in FP1, while team mate Lando Norris finished 13th quickest. Neither Renault was in the top 10 either as Esteban Ocon finished 12th. But the margins were small on Friday: from Albon in P8 to Norris in P13, there was a gap of only 0.138s.

The AlphaTauri drivers finished 14th and 17th with Pierre Gasly faster than his team mate Daniil Kvyat who was stuck in the garage for the first half of the session with an unexplained issue. Between them sat Antonio Giovinazzi in P15 and his Alfa Romeo team mate, Kimi Raikkonen, 16th.

BARCELONA, SPAIN - AUGUST 14: Roy Nissany of Israel driving the Williams Racing FW43 Mercedes spins

FP1 debutant Roy Nissany spun at Turn 10 but continued to finish 20th for Williams, 0.330s off his team mate Nicholas Latifi

Daniel Ricciardo was therefore 18th in this session, 2.445s off top spot as Nicholas Latifi was 19th and Williams junior Roy Nissany finished last after a lock up and spin at Turn 10 blemished his first-ever F1 FP1 session.

George Russell, who was without a car having handed his to Nissany, decided to put himself to work in the Williams garage for FP1 - including acting as the lolipop man in the pits. He returns for FP2 this afternoon as the sun continues to bear down in Spain.

Change your F1 Fantasy team now for the Spanish Grand Prix. Click here for some tips for the upcoming race.

This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies. Please update your

FP1 Highlights: 2020 Spanish Grand Prix

Share

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Coming Up

Coming Up

News

Vettel set to test Porsche 963 Hypercar as he explains ‘curiosity’ for endurance events