The 1000th Formula 1 World Championship event got underway in Shanghai China with Sebastian Vettel taking the honours in Free Practice 1 on Friday morning. Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes put his name forward with the fastest time of the afternoon in Free Practice 2.
Free Practice 1
Vettel shook off the demons from the Bahrain Race and was top of the time sheets in FP1 finishing the session with a best time of 1:33.911. Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes was 0.207s adrift of the German’s benchmark. It should be noted that Vettel had only run the harder compound tyre whereas Hamilton had switched to the softer compound for a run.
Not far off Hamilton’s pace was Charles Leclerc with a session best time of 1:34.167. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen managed 4th fastest 0.423s off Vettel’s time ahead of the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas who could only manage 5th fastest.
Best of the rest in P6 was Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo with a 1:35.239, 1.328s off the pace. Behind the Australian was Pierre Gasly in P7 just narrowly edging out Daniil Kvyat in the Honda powered Toro Rosso in P8. Gasly, like Vettel, did not use the softer compound tyres.
Lance Stroll finished 9th fastest for Racing Point with Haas’ Romain Grosjean rounding out the top 10.
The session was not trouble free however. Stroll had a spin in coming out of the final corner while Alfa’s Antonio Giovinazzi had power unit issues which curtailed his session.
Free Practice 2
After a wobbly start to the session, Valtteri Bottas ended FP2 on top of the time sheets with less than a tenth between himself and second fastest man, Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari. Bottas set a 1:33.330 on his qualifying simulation, with Vettel 0.027s off Bottas’ benchmark.
Finishing in P3 for Red Bull was Max Verstappen. His time of 1:33.551 will no doubt put Red Bull in good spirits and it looks like they will be in the mix in the race.
Finishing 4th fastest was Lewis Hamilton. His time of 1:34.047 was 0.707s off Bottas’ benchmark. Hamilton did have some issues with debris on track which made setting his fastest lap a little tricky.
Charles Leclerc only managed 7th fastest. The Monegasque driver was unable to hook a flying lap during the session. His issues were further compounded by a cooling issue on his Ferrari, which meant he sat out the final 30-minutes of the session.
Lando Norris continued his good form of free practice finishes by ending his session 9th fastest. Mclaren team mate Carlos Sainz finished his session 6th fastest just behind the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg in 5th.
Daniel Ricciardo, looking a touch more comfortable in the Renault, finished 9th with Pierre Gasly rounding out the top 10.
The pace between Ferrari and Mercedes looks close over one lap and over the long run pace. Red Bull are not far off and could fancy themselves a podium and will be waiting in the wings if Ferrari or Mercedes make any mistakes.
