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<strong>FP1:</strong> Gasly tops opening practice as drivers struggle for grip

FP1: Gasly tops opening practice as drivers struggle for grip

Published on 12 Jul 2019 12:30
5
By: Fergal Walsh

Pierre Gasly has topped the opening practice session from the British Grand Prix weekend, as drivers struggled for grip during the 90 minutes.

The low grip Silverstone Circuit provided a challenge for many of the drivers, with plenty going for spins in the early stages of the session.

One red flag was called when Kimi Raikkonen stopped on the circuit with a power unit problem. Alfa Romeo confirmed during the session that it would need to be replaced prior to the start of FP2 later today.

Romain Grosjean was left with a red face after he spun at the exit of the pit lane shortly after the green flag was waved for the start of practice, which ripped his front wing from the car.

The Haas driver is running an Australia spec car on Friday as Haas attempts to uncover why it is having issues during with its race pace.

Gasly's session-topping time was a 1:27.173, which was just under half a second quicker than Valtteri Bottas, who ended up in second place.

Gasly went out on the soft tyres at the end of the session to set his time. There was also some raindrops that fell around the midway points, which made conditions tricky for the drivers.

The second Red Bull car of Max Verstappen was third, fresh from his race win in Austria two weeks ago. Lewis Hamilton was fourth, one second down on Gasly, but set his fastest lap on the medium compound.

The Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel followed in fifth and sixth respectively, while both Renaults followed, with Nico Hulkenberg leading teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

Alexander Albon was one of many drivers who had an off-track excursion during the session, but the Thai-Britsh driver ended up in ninth place, ahead of Carlos Sainz who rounded out the top ten.

F1Grand Prix United Kingdom - Free practice 1

Silverstone - 12 July 2019

Driver

Team

Time

Difference

#
1

Pierre Gasly

Red Bull Racing

1:27.173

25
2

Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes

1:27.629

+0.456

29
3

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

1:28.009

+0.836

21
4

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:28.122

+0.949

26
5

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:28.253

+1.080

21
6

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari

1:28.304

+1.131

21
7

Nico Hülkenberg

Renault

1:28.803

+1.630

21
8

Daniel Ricciardo

Renault

1:29.031

+1.858

24
9

Alexander Albon

Toro Rosso

1:29.093

+1.920

26
10

Carlos Sainz jr

McLaren

1:29.162

+1.989

31
11

Lando Norris

McLaren

1:29.170

+1.997

23
12

Sergio Perez

Racing Point

1:29.453

+2.280

27
13

Daniil Kvyat

Toro Rosso

1:29.500

+2.327

26
14

Lance Stroll

Racing Point

1:29.657

+2.484

25
15

Antonio Giovinazzi

Alfa Romeo Racing

1:30.099

+2.926

24
16

Kevin Magnussen

Haas F1

1:30.605

+3.432

24
17

George Russell

Williams

1:30.741

+3.568

25
18

Kimi Räikkönen

Alfa Romeo Racing

1:30.747

+3.574

12
19

Romain Grosjean

Haas F1

1:30.811

+3.638

22
20

Robert Kubica

Williams

1:32.121

+4.948

27

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Replies (5)

f1fan0101

Posts: 1,804
pretty unrepresentative session i think
- + 0
- Jul 12 2019 - 12:39
- emprisedll
  
  Posts: 22
  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  
  They had to waste the time somehow.
  + 0
  
  Jul 12 2019 - 13:22
- f1fan0101
  
  Posts: 1,804
  give him some glory lol
  + 0
  
  Jul 12 2019 - 13:25
- JuJuHound
  
  Posts: 352
  I hope so, if not, Kubica is.... progressing in not the way I expected.
  + 0
  
  Jul 12 2019 - 14:24
Patentprutser

Posts: 392
Is it possible to show on which compound the fastest lap is set? Makes the time sheet more representative
- + 0
- Jul 12 2019 - 13:45