Europe – Free Practice 1 – Hamilton sets the benchmark, Ricciardo hits the wall!
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg dominated the first free practice session of the European Grand Prix at Baku's city track. Valtteri Bottas put his Williams in 3rd position, while Daniel Ricciardo wrecked his car exiting Turn 15 at the end of the session.
Formula 1 discovers a new country, Azerbaijan, and a new track, the Baku circuit, which winds through the narrow streets of the Caucasian city.
This urban circuit looks spectacular, and already, some drivers like Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg are questioning track safety. Indeed, the track has very little run-off area, like in Monaco, but unlike the mythical track of the Principality, this one is very fast and top speeds can reach over 320 km/h.
In the first half-hour, the drivers take the time to discover the track and chain the corners together. The two Mercedes logically find themselves in the lead with a clear advantage for Lewis Hamilton. Being a power circuit, the teams powered by the German power unit will have a distinct advantage over the weekend.
This is how Valtteri Bottas affords the luxury of setting the fastest time at 1:47.707, half a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile, a few drivers like Esteban Gutierrez or Sebastian Vettel make mistakes without any negative consequences on the rest of their sessions.
At mid-session, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull emits worrying smoke… the Dutch driver returns to his pit and dismounts so his mechanics can find the cause of this issue. All 22 participants in this session have clocked a time, and in the Top 10 we find: Bottas, Hamilton, Rosberg, Perez, Alonso, Hülkenberg, Button, Räikkönen, Vettel, and Ricciardo.
From now on, the drivers fully gauge the track and both Mercedes fit the softest red-banded tires supplied by Pirelli this weekend. Rosberg, then Hamilton, immediately take control of the session with a best time of 1.46.489.
In the last half-hour, the drivers continue to do a lot of laps, and Daniel Ricciardo destroys the rear of his car against a wall at turn number 15. The red flag is waved, and the Australian abandons his severely damaged car. The Tecpro barriers proved fatal for the unlucky Red Bull driver, who didn’t really make a big mistake but is directly penalized.
RED FLAG: Sizeable delay following RIC's crash
Track being cleared as quickly as possible #EuropeGP 🇦🇿 #FP1 pic.twitter.com/6AGwdP0WH3
— Formula 1 (@F1) 17 juin 2016
The session resumes for a final fifteen minutes without Lewis Hamilton, who has already returned to his motorhome. Felipe Massa is also out of his car… the Brazilian is over 2 seconds behind his teammate in the provisional standings. Carlos Sainz hits the Tecpro at the same spot as Ricciardo but is able to continue after damaging his front wing. Gutierrez goes straight on while Romain Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson play who will brake the latest at the end of the straight. The Swede concedes and chooses to take the escape road.
Finally, Lewis Hamilton’s time of 1.46.435 will not be beaten and the Briton will set the first benchmark of the weekend. Behind him, an aggressive and impressive Fernando Alonso records a surprising 4th time.
The FP1 standings:
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION: END OF #FP1
Frustration for Red Bull, encouraging from McLaren #EuropeGP 🇦🇿 pic.twitter.com/lkgAJTSvGi
— Formula 1 (@F1) 17 juin 2016
