Russian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Bottas on top, Sainz and Latifi in the wall

The Russian Grand Prix weekend kicked off this morning with the first free practice session and Valtteri Bottas’s best time.

About half of the drivers entered the track at the start of the session to rediscover (and discover for some) the Sochi track by doing a single reconnaissance lap. After 7 minutes, Lewis Hamilton set the first reference time at 1:37.716 but was immediately beaten by his teammate Valtteri Bottas, who improved the Brit’s time by more than 4 tenths, clocking a 1:37.313. After 10 minutes, all the drivers returned to their garages. Alexander Albon was the first to emerge from his garage and took the opportunity to set the 3rd fastest time. Kvyat recorded the 2nd fastest time, 3 tenths behind the Finn. Sergio Perez set the fastest time of the session at 1:37.306 before being immediately beaten by Danill Kvyat, who improved his time to 1:37.124. His time was subsequently bettered by Daniel Ricciardo, who became the first driver to go under 1:37 with a 1:36.852, himself shortly after beaten by Max Verstappen at 1:36.751. After 30 minutes, a few drivers put on the soft tires, including Bottas, who went under 1:35 with a 1:34.923, improving Verstappen’s time by nearly two seconds. Then Carlos Sainz went off track and hit the barriers, damaging his rear wing and causing the implementation of a VSC. At the same time, Kvyat spun but continued without damage. All the drivers returned to their garages 50 minutes before the end of the session. The VSC ended just after.

At mid-session, while all the drivers are in their garages, the top 5 are as follows: Bottas, Perez, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Leclerc. Hamilton is the first to exit the pits and locks up the tires at the first corner, having to cut across it. Shortly after, his teammate Bottas also locks up. With 35 minutes remaining, Nicholas Latifi loses the rear and hits the back of the tech-pro barriers, severely damaging his car. The red flag is therefore waved, only to be lifted 30 minutes before the end of the session. A few drivers take the opportunity to leave their garages, including Romain Grosjean, who spins without damage: the rear of his car snapped in the same way as the rears of Latifi’s and Sainz’s cars. Ricciardo records the second-fastest time, half a second behind Bottas.

Bottas therefore finishes this session in the lead ahead of a surprising Daniel Ricciardo and his Renault. Lewis Hamilton is only in 19th place after a complicated practice session.

Ranking of FP1 of the Russian Grand Prix: