Tuscan Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Bottas Shatters Record

Start of the weekend and an unprecedented FP1 at the Mugello circuit, which most drivers are discovering. The first session ends with a close duel between Bottas (1:17.879) and Verstappen (1:17.927), the two drivers separated by less than 0.05 seconds.

All the drivers entered the track at the very beginning of the session to immediately navigate the Mugello circuit, completing a single reconnaissance lap. After 10 minutes, Valtteri Bottas set the first timed lap of the session at 1:22.124. He soon improved his time, setting a 1:20.645, before further improving to 1:20.540. Gasly followed less than half a second behind the Finnish driver, before surpassing the Mercedes driver’s mark by being the first driver to set a time under 1:20, with a 1:19.859.

After the first half-hour of the session, Max Verstappen is at the top of the timesheet with 1:19.439, followed by Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton. Charles Leclerc sets the second fastest time just behind the Dutchman before the latter clocks a 1:19.017.

At mid-session, all the drivers return to their garages to make adjustments to prepare for the second part of the session. The drivers all go out on soft tires. With 40 minutes remaining in the session, Kimi Räikkönen is the first to leave the pits and sets the 3rd fastest time, 0.2 seconds behind Verstappen. Lando Norris becomes the first driver to go below the 1 minute 19 mark with a 1:18.981.

Lewis Hamilton breaks the circuit record with a time of 1:18.409 while half an hour remains in the session, before Bottas betters the Briton’s mark by more than half a second with a 1:17.879, becoming the first driver to set a time under 1:18 on the Mugello circuit. With 25 minutes left in FP1, Bottas is leading just ahead of Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, and Esteban Ocon.

The drivers then perform race simulations in the last 20 minutes of the session. Nicholas Latifi spins harmlessly in turn 2 and manages to get out of the gravel. Several drivers, like Vettel and Sainz, complain about the wear on their front tires.

Verstappen and Leclerc are therefore interposed between the two Mercedes in the final FP1 standings. Bottas and Hamilton are separated by more than half a second. Pierre Gasly is the first non-Mercedes/Red Bull/Ferrari driver, nearly 8 tenths off the Finnish driver’s benchmark, just ahead of Esteban Ocon’s Renault. Sebastian Vettel, for his part, is 13th, nearly one and a half seconds behind Valtteri Bottas.

Classification of FP1 for the Tuscany Grand Prix: