F1 Madness

Tag: free practice 1

  • 2019 Spanish Grand Prix: Friday Free Practice Round-Up

    2019 Spanish Grand Prix: Friday Free Practice Round-Up

    The “European” season of the F1 world championship kicked off on Friday with Free Practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.

    Whisperings around the paddock say that this will be the final Spanish Grand Prix and F1 will not come back in 2020. Nevertheless, there was practice sessions to power through and power through the teams did.

    With the Circuit de Catalunya hosting the pre-season testing, it does not take teams long to get to grips with the track and teams usually get their new bits bolted on and head out for some lappage.

    Free Practice 1

    Early on in the session it seemed as though Ferrari had their issues behind them as the early pace was set by Charles Leclerc, but it was Mercedes with Valtteri Bottas who showed that their updates worked just that bit better. Bottas looked quick very early on and indications very early on were that Mercedes had quite a significant pace advantage over the rest of the field.

    Bottas set the fastest time of the session with a 1:17.951. Just a touch under a tenth was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel with a 1:18.066. This may have given Ferrari hope at the end of the session. They were soon to be proven very wrong come FP2.

    Third fastest in the other Ferrari was Charles Leclerc with a session best time of 1:18.172, 0.221s off Bottas’ benchmark. Finishing 4th fastest was Lewis more than six-tenths off the pace. Hamilton struggled with grip throughout the session and reported that he could not get the tyres in the zone.

    “It was quite windy on track today and it was a bit tricky with the grip levels on the three different tyres, but we got through our programme and now have lots of data to analyse tonight and then fine tune the car for tomorrow,” commented Hamilton.

    With new aero parts on the Haas, Romain Grosjean ended the session 5th fastest and in doing so validating the work of the Haas engineers. Carlos Sainz split the Haas drivers by finishing 6th in the McLaren with a best time of 1:19.155, 1,204s off the pace. Kevin Magnussen, who was still running the older aero parts on his Haas, ended his session 7th fastest ahead of the Red Bull of Pierre Gasly 8th.

    Daniil Kvyat finished 9th fastest a touch a head of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg who rounded out the top 10.

    Max Verstappen ran into some traffic on his flying lap run and his session was cut short after an oil leak on his Red Bull.

    With a few seconds left in the session, Lance Stroll – who finished the session 13th fastest – brought out the Red Flags after he dipped a wheel on the gravel before Turn 9 which sent his RP19 over the gravel and into the barrier.

     

    Free Practice 2

    Valtteri Bottas, in the break between FP1 and FP2 had some porridge and made it two from two finishing the second free practice session with a best time of 1:17.284.

    His Mercedes team mate, Lewis Hamilton was just 0.049s off Bottas’ benchmark but still struggled with grip at times.

    Leclerc finished ahead of Vettel in FP2 with session best lap time of 1:17.585, 0.301s off Bottas’ benchmark. This should be quite worrying for Ferrari. Being so far off the pace quite early on in the weekend does not point to a smooth weekend for the Scuderia.

    Max Verstappen finished 5th fastest with a spec 2 Honda PU. Honda had chosen to change his PU after an oil leak curtailed his running in FP1.

    Continuing on his good form from FP1 was Haas’ Romain Grosjean with a P6 finish with a session best time of 1:18.153 for the Frenchman. Team mate Magnussen was P9. The two Haas’ once again split, this time by Gasly in the other Red Bull.

    Carlos Sainz had another good session finishing 9th fastest ahead of the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat in P10.

    Mercedes clearly showing their superiority quite early on in the weekend and their expected to go even quicker come qualifying. Their long run pace was far superior to Ferrari and Red Bull and all indications from the long run pace points to another Mercedes 1-2 dominating weekend.

    Ferrari seem to have the speed in the high speed Sector 1 and Sector 2. Where they are struggling is in the slow and technical Sector 3 where mechanical grip is important. Mercedes, over the years, have shown that they are exceptionally strong in this section and Ferrari were no match at any point in time. Clearly nothing has changed. The Ferrari seems to cook it’s tyres by the time it gets to the final sector and struggles for grip whereas the Mercedes manages to keep the tyres in the very tiny operating window which allows them to get the pace through the final sector.

    We have seen come-backs in Formula 1. This has been a week of comebacks in sport but this might be one mountain Ferrari will be unable to get over.

     

  • 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Friday Practice Round-Up

    2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Friday Practice Round-Up

    The Azerbaijan Grand Prix has gained it’s reputation in a few short years as one of the most unpredictable Grand Prix events on the F1 calendar. This year was no exception and the unpredictability started from Free Practice 1.

    Free Practice 1

    The session ended as quickly as it began as a loose manhole cover, that was dislodged by Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari, at the exit of T3 caused substantial damage to George Russell’s Williams. There were only two times on the board before the session was halted. Both Ferrari’s managed to set times early in the session before Russell caused the red flag. The fun, however, did not stop there. While marshals were extracting the damaged Williams, the crane on the flatbed hit a low bridge and as a result the hydraulic fluid from the crane leaked onto the Williams.

    Race control then took the decision to call off the session in order to inspect all the manhole covers around the circuit.

    It was later revealed that Russell would need a new chassis and that meant that he would have to sit out Free Practice 2 which started at the scheduled time.

     

    Free Practice 2

    Kind of picking up where they left off in FP1 Ferrari were on top of the time sheets at the end of FP2.

    Teams were keen to head out in FP2 after the cancellation of the first practice session in the morning. Ferrari wasted no time in getting to the top of the time sheets with Charles Leclerc who set a session best time of 1:42.672. Team mate Sebastian Vettel was 0.324s off the pace with a session best time of 1:43.196.

    The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton trailed a further 0.669s off Leclerc’s benchmark finishing the session 3rd fastest ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in 4th. Team mate to Hamilton, Valteri Bottas could only manage 5th fastest in the session just a touch over a second off the pace. Bottas initially struggled for grip at the beginning of the session locking up and taking to the run-off areas.

    Finishing the session 6th fastest on his 25th birthday was Daniil Kvyat in the Toro Rosso. While it would’ve been a nice birthday present for the Russian had it not been for his crash at the exit of Turn 7 in the final 20mins of the session. Putting a bitter-sweet end to his birthday no doubt.

    7th Fastest in the Renault powered Mclaren was Carlos Sainz ahead of Alexander Albon in the second Toro Rosso who was 8th fastest.

    Pierre Gasly in the second Red Bull finished 9th fastest with the second Mclaren of Lando Norris rounding out the top 10.

    The session was filled with the usual Baku Circuit follies with many drivers overshooting their braking spots or locking up and taking to the escape roads. A massive lockup in particular for Daniel Ricciardo in the Renault saw him sitting out the final 40mins of the session. The Australian had a massive lock-up into Turn 15 and the resulting flat spot put him out of the session. Not to mention his brakes catching fire as well. Ricciardo ended the session 15th fastest.

    The bad day for Renault got worse and team mate Nico Hulkenberg also complained about lock-ups on his loaded wheels. Hulkenberg ended the session down in P17.

    Kvyat was not the only driver to make contact with the barriers in the session. Racing Point’s Lance Stroll had a lock up into Turn 2 and hesitated a bit in deciding to take the corner or take the escape road. He ended up doing the latter but it was a few meters too late and made contact with the barrier breaking his front left suspension and front wing. Racing Point got the car back and repaired the car to get the Canadian back out on track for the final 5-minutes.

     

  • 2019 Chinese Grand Prix: Free Practice Roundup

    2019 Chinese Grand Prix: Free Practice Roundup

    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.China 2019_FP1 Classification

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    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.

    China 2019_FP2 Classification

     

  • Chinese GP 2018: Friday Free Practice Round Up

    Chinese GP 2018: Friday Free Practice Round Up

    Lewis Hamilton, for the second time this season, finished both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice on top of the time sheets.

    Hamilton looked like he may run with it at the end of FP1 and it looked like Mercedes were on their way to stamp their dominance on the weekend but come FP2 it was a different story. The top 4 in FP2 were just separated by 0.108s setting up another exciting qualifying battle on Saturday.

    With rain threatening both sessions, the drivers were out on track early and got in some good mileage. Proper rain started falling with 10min remaining in FP2 which effectively ended the day of running.

    Free Practice 1

    Hamilton stamped his authority on FP1 by setting the fastest lap of the session on the soft compound tyres, 0.359s clear of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who could only manage a 1:34.358 on the ultra soft tyres.

    Hamilton and Bottas did not run the ultra soft tyre in FP1 which made their times all the more impressive. Bottas managed 3rd fastest nearly half a second off Hamilton.

    The Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen finished 4th and 5th fastest respectively ahead of Sebastian Vettel in 6th in the other Ferrari who was a little under a second off the pace.

    Haas got both their cars in the top 10 with Kevin Magnussen getting 7th fastest with team mate Romain Grosjean 9th. The Haas’ were split by Carlos Sainz in the Renault in 8th and with Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10.

    The threat of rain hung in the air and the session was off to a busy start. The rain, however, did not materialise with just a few spots of drizzle falling which did not cause any problems.

    Free Practice 2

    While everyone thought that Hamilton might run away with things this weekend, FP2 went the other way. The top 4 were all within 0.108s of each other. Hamilton finished the fastest in the session but only by 0.007s from Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari.

    Bottas was 3rd fastest 0.033s off the pace while Vettel placed 4th 0.108s off the pace.

    Max Verstappen was 5th fastest ahead of Hulkenberg in the Renault in 6th and Kevin Magnussen in the Haas in 7th. Carlos Sainz got his Renault again into the top 10 finishing 8th with Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull in 9th.

    Rounding out the top 10 was Fernando Alonso.

    Hamilton and Raikkonen had a few off track excursions while Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Williams’ Lance Stroll both spun out on track. The wind and cool weather made things tricky for some.

    Stoffel Vandoorne’s session came to an early end after he left the pits with a loose wheel. McLaren were subsequently fined 5000 Euros.

    The long run pace between the Ferrari’s and Mercedes is very close and together with their one lap pace it is shaping up to be a good weekend for the fans. Red Bull are also in the mix with their race pace.

    With pace so close, who ever makes a mistake in qualifying will be punished quite severely.

  • 2018 Bahrain GP: Friday Practice Round Up

    2018 Bahrain GP: Friday Practice Round Up

    Free Practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday yielded some mixed results between the two sessions with Ferrari ultimately getting the edge and looking the stronger team at the end of the day.

    Free Practice 1

    Daniel Ricciardo was the man on top of the time sheets at the end of FP1 with a session best time of 1:31.060. Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes was 0.304s down in P2 with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen a further 0.398s off the pace.

    Going into the session it looked like it would be a Mercedes-Ferrari battle, but Daniel Ricciardo getting into the mix shows that Red Bull are knocking on the door.

    The session, which takes place during the day while qualifying and the race is in the evening, was not representative of the performance of the teams, which meant that teams were not in a hurry to get out until much later in the session.

    While Ricciardo set the fastest time of the session, his team mate Max Verstappen had electrical issues after two laps. The Dutchman managed to get the car to the edge of the pit lane and pushed it back into the pits with the help of the marshals.

    The mid-field battle looked extremely close with Romain Grosjean in the Haas leading the pack in 7th ahead of Pierre Gasly in the upgraded Toro Rosso in 8th. Carlos Sainz in the Renault.

    Spins from Williams Lance Stroll and Sauber’s Charles Leclerc capped off uneventful sessions for the pair.

     

     

    Free Practice 2

    Ferrari emerged from the second free practice session in the evening as the strongest running team with Kimi Raikkonen topping the time sheets narrowly edging Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel by 0.011s. Bottas in the Mercedes was 0.563 off the pace. The fastest times for the top three was set on the red banded super soft tyre, a tyre that the Mercedes cars did not seem comfortable on while the Ferrari’s on the other hand seemed solid.

    Lewis Hamilton finished 4th fastest 0.655s off Raikkonen’s pace ahead of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo in 5th and 6th respectively.

    Nico Hulkenberg who complained about the balance of his Renault ended his session 7th fastest ahead of the upgraded Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly.

    Both McLaren’s finished in the top 10 with Fernando Alonso finishing 9th ahead of team mate Stoffel Vandoorne.

    The long run pace between Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull looks very closely matched. It looks like strategy could be the only differentiator come race day for victory – with a bit of luck thrown in for good measure.

    Just 15mins before the end of the session, Raikkonen had to pull over after one of his wheels was not fastened properly. The team was fined €5000 for their transgression.

    The Haas boys finished a little lower down the order while the Force India pair ended up higher up the order.

    The teams go into Saturday’s final practice session very closely matched with Ferrari slightly edging ahead.

     

     

     

    Photo by courtesy Pirelli

  • 2018 Australian GP: Friday Practice Report

    2018 Australian GP: Friday Practice Report

    It was a Friday of domination by Mercedes for the season opening Australian Grand Prix.

    Lewis Hamilton took the honors in both Friday practice sessions finishing top of the time sheets. It looked like Mercedes were unreachable after Free Practice 1, but things closed up a bit in Free Practice 2 and, as it stands, it looks like Red Bull could pose a threat to Mercedes come race day.

    It’s believed that either Mercedes will qualify in pole position in tomorrows qualifying session. There is some rain forecast which may throw things for a bit. Red Bull will no doubt be hoping for rain. Ferrari on the other hand have not said much, only that there is more to come from the car and that they’re looking good for the rest of the weekend. Their long run pace puts them in contention but qualifying high on the grid is crucial.

    Free Practice three should finally reveal who’s got the pace to challenge the mighty Mercedes.

    Free Practice 1

    Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was the first one to venture out on to the Albert Park Circuit to kick the 2018 off. With the track being very green, it took a few laps before some representative times started coming through.

    Mercedes were quick out the blocks and fastest times were being traded between Hamilton and Bottas almost immediately. The Red Bull’s of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen got in the mix as well but it was Hamilton who eventually set the session best time of 1:24.026. Bottas was second fastest 0.551s off the pace with a 1:24.577 with Verstappen a further 0.745s down.

    While the Red Bulls and Mercedes drivers ran with the super soft tyres and the ultra soft tyres, both Ferrari drivers chose to limit their super soft running and ran almost exclusively on the soft compound tyres with Vettel having a short stint on the super softs.

    McLaren were hoping that their bad run of luck would’ve ended in testing but that was not to be. Fernando Alonso sat out most of the session with an exhaust issue. Vandoorne didn’t escape the gremlins either. But McLaren were able to get the pair back out on track and Alonso jumped up the order and eventually finished 8th fastest with Vandoorne in 10th.

    Haas were definitely the surprise of the session. They proved that their testing pace was not a one off with Romain Grosjean finishing 7th.

     

    Free Practice 2

    With Mercedes utterly dominant in the first session it was expected they would just leave the rest of the field behind. But Red Bull and Ferrari had other ideas. In the end it was much closer than anyone had expected and it sets up a great qualifying and race.

    Hamilton took the fastest time of the session with a 1:23.931. 2nd Fastest was Max Verstappen in the Red Bull just 0.127s off Hamilton’s time with a 1:24.058. Bottas in the second Mercedes was 3rd fastest 0.228s off Hamilton’s time.

    The Ferrari’s were 4th and 5th with Raikkonen ahead of Vettel. The latter saying that he’s not entirely happy with the balance of the car, but he expects changes that will be made overnight to yield some results.

    The second session was a more aggressive. With some rubber laid down in the first session, the drivers were getting stuck in and pushing to find the limits. There were off track excursions from Esteban Ocon in the Force India at Turn 3 and Carlos Sainz in the Renault at Turn 12.

    Raikkonen and Bottas almost had a coming together when Raikkonen got muddled up at Turn 3. Bottas approaching, had to take to the gravel trap to avoid his fellow countryman. The pair were summoned to the stewards but it was judged that although Raikkonen had impeded Bottas he former did make the move to cede the apex to Bottas and that it was not intentional.

    The mid-field battle is heating up as Haas emerged best of the rest again. The rest of the pack are all extremely close.

    It’s setup to be a close race. Mercedes is expected to use their superior “quali” engine mode to steal pole. The race, however, is going to be an interesting prospect with rain expected in qualifying.

  • 2017 Mexico Grand Prix: Friday Free Practice Round Up

    2017 Mexico Grand Prix: Friday Free Practice Round Up

    It was a mixed Friday for the Mexican Grand Prix practice with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas the fastest in the first free practice session and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo fastest in the second session.

    Free Practice 1

    Free Practice 1 got off to an easy start with cool track and ambient temperatures with the early runners kicking up a lot of dust from the track surface. It did not take long for the dust to get hoovered up and it was back to business.

    Valtteri Bottas took the honours in Free Practice 1 for the Mexican Grand Prix finishing quickest ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Bottas’ session best time of 1:17.824 was 0.466s faster than Hamilton’s best of 1:18.290.

    Both Mercedes drivers set their times on the ultra soft tyre.

    Red Bull and Ferrari look to be hiding some pace as both teams only ventured out with the soft and super soft tyres. The latter only running the super soft tyres.

    Verstappen was 3rd fastest just over half a second of the benchmark time but had his session cut short after Red Bull decided to make a setup change with 20mins left in the session.

    Ricciardo was not far off Verstappen’s pace in the second Red Bull in 4th.

    The two Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were 5ht and 6th respectively a bit off the pace but just about within the delta time between the super softs and ultra softs.

    Home town hero Sergio Perez finished his session 7th fastest for Force India with a best time of 1:19.240. The same cannot be said for Alfonso Celis who took the place of Esteban Ocon in the Force India. The rookie made contact with the call at Turn 16 coming out of the stadium section. The rear of the car stepped out and spun him, rear wing first, into the barrier. The red flags were brought out to recover the stricken Force India.

    Fernando Alonso showed some good pace finishing 8th fastest ahead of the Williams of Felipe Massa. His team mate Stoffel Vandoorne suffered engine issues with Honda having to replace another power unit after starting FP1 with a new power unit. Vandoorne managed to only complete 3 installation laps.

    Nico Hulkenberg in the Renault rounded out the top 10.

    Brendon Hartley did not have a smooth running session. He ran into some engine trouble halfway into the session. He restarted the engine and returned to the pits and spent the rest of the session in the garage. He finished the session 18th.

    Free Practice 2

    The session got underway in considerably warmer conditions. The track, however, was still quite slippery and caught out a few drivers.

    Daniel Ricciardo topped the session with a time of 1:17.801 on his ultra soft tyre run. Lewis Hamilton was 2nd fastest 0.131s off the pace with a 1:17.932. Verstappen in the second Red Bull just just a few hundredths off Hamilton’s time with a 1:17.964.

    Verstappen’s session did come to an early end however, after an issue with the engine was detected. Verstappen fans need not worry as the engine that was used is not his race engine and he should be fine for the race.

    The Ferrari pair improving on their pace from FP1 and running the ultra soft tyres this session were 4th and 5th fastest with Vettel leading Raikkonen. 6th fastest was the second Mercedes with Valtteri Bottas.

    The top 6 finishers were all covered within half a second.

    Alonso continued with his good form showing that the pace in FP1 was not just a one off.

    Perez was 8th fastest with Nico Hulkenberg in 9th splitting the Force India’s with Esteban Ocon in 10th.

    Few drivers were caught out by the track conditions throughout the session which compromised the running of some. Hamilton was caught out at Turn 11 and flat spotted his set of super softs. That brought an end to his super soft running after just a few laps.

    Romain Grosjean spun coming out of Turn 17 a few minutes after the session got underway. The resultant flat spot caused his rear left tyre to delaminate throwing up bit of carbon fibre and Pirelli rubber all over the track on the straight to Turn 1. The red flags were immediately brought out to allow the marshals to clear the track. Grosjean meanwhile made it back to the pits.

    Vettel had an unusual problem with his fire extinguisher in the car. He was heard over the radio saying that he felt his feet getting very cold and then he felt burning on his lower extremities. He made it back to the pits and when he got out of the car it was clear that the fire extinguisher had gone off in his car. A clean set of overalls and he was back on track a few minutes later.

    Red Bull have looked the most comfortable around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez so far. Their long run pace looks very good while Mercedes are not that far behind. The Mercedes seems a bit kinder to their tyres.

    While Ferrari’s race pace was not that far off Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel feels that it could be better and that they still have a lot of work to do before Free Practice 3 and qualifying tomorrow.

     

    Photo Credit: Red Bull Racing Formula One Team

  • 2017 British Grand Prix Free Practice Round Up

    2017 British Grand Prix Free Practice Round Up

    Free Practice 1

    Valtteri Bottas kicked off his Friday morning by carrying the momentum from his win in Austria and finished fastest at the end of the first free practice session for the British Grand Prix.

    Bottas’ time of 1:29.106 came courtesy of the yellow-marked soft compound tyres – which they ran for the entire session. Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton was not that far off the pace in 2nd with a best time of 1:29.184, 0.078s slower than Bottas’ time. Mercedes looked quite strong throughout the session with very little drama coming from the drivers. With a green track and few drivers spinning off the Mercedes drivers were able to keep it on the black stuff.

    Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo finished 3rd and 4th fastest respectively for Red Bull. Their times came courtesy of the super soft compound tyres. While on the faster tyre their times were still quite a way off the Mercedes. Verstappen’s best time was a 1:29.604, +0.498s off Bottas’ pace while Ricciardo’s best time was just shy of a second off the pace.

    Ferrari finished 5th and 6th fastest with Kimi Raikkonen faster of the two drivers. His best time was a touch over a second off his fellow countryman’s time in the Mercedes. When the session started Sebastian Vettel ran Ferrari’s interpretation of the new aero-screen head protection for a lap. The two Ferrari drivers worked together with Kimi following and passing Vettel at various points around the circuit to asses the visibility. The test lasted all of one installation lap after Vettel decided he had enough. When asked about it after the session he said that the screen made him feel “dizzy” and that there was distortion from the curvature of the screen.

    Daniil “Torpedo” Kvyat ended his session 7th fastest ahead of the McLaren of Fernando Alonso in 8th. McLaren have brought a “spec 3” engine to Silverstone this weekend and expect to be higher up the order and the results are clear to see. Before the session McLaren changed Alonso’s Control Electronics which was his 5th for the season. This means that he will drop 5-places down the grid for Sunday’s race.

    Splitting the McLarens was the Williams of Felipe Massa. Rounding out the top 10 was Stoffel Vandoorne in the second McLaren.

    There were a few spins and off track excursions with Vettel spinning early on in the session. Lance Stroll took a trip over the grass at Becketts after getting out of shape on the exit.

    Free Practice 2

    Valtteri Bottas picked up right where he left off in FP1 for FP2. Bottas once again claimed the top spot of the time sheets with a 1:28.496 on the super soft tyres. Hamilton was just a whisker off with only 0.047s separating the two Mercedes drivers. Hamilton’s best time was a 1:28.543.

    Ferrari were bound to take things a little conservatively during FP1 with their engine upgrade this weekend, but they turned up the engine a bit in FP2 and finished higher up the order. Kimi Raikkonen, again, finished ahead of team mate Sebastian Vettel. Raikkonen’s 3rd fastest time of 1:28.828 was 0.332s off Bottas’ pace. Vettel was a little bit slower than Raikkonen with a best time of 1:28.956.

    Essentially just swapping around with Ferrari from FP1, the Red Bull duo finished 5th and 6th with Max Verstappen faster than team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. There was a moment for Ricciardo as he got out of shape at the exit of Becketts. The rear of his Red Bull stepped out on him but he was able to catch the slide before it turned into a full blown spin.

    Nico Hulkenberg finished a rather impressive 7th fastest for the Renault F1 Team. His best time of 1:29.936 came courtesy of the super softs.

    Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were back in the top 10 in 8th and 9th respectively with Force India’s Esteban Ocon rounding out the top 10.

    Before practice it was expected that the new 2017 cars would be much faster around the Silverstone Circuit this year. The question was by how much. The speed the drivers were carrying into the corners baffled some and it was truly impressive to watch the cars take Copse at such an impressive speed. According to data collected by Pirelli, the drivers are doing in excess of 280km/h through Copse with a lateral load exceeding 5G.

    The best thing about these stats is that the drivers are going to get quicker through FP3 and Qualifying.

  • Hamilton Takes Command on Friday for Austrian GP Free Practice

    Hamilton Takes Command on Friday for Austrian GP Free Practice

    Lewis Hamilton took charge of Friday Free Practice for the Austrian Grand Prix after finishing both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 on top of the time sheets.

    Free Practice 1

    Free Practice got underway under glorious sunshine. With the track still green drivers were slow to get out of their garages but eventually we got some track action.

    Hamilton put his Mercedes in the top spot finishing the session with a best time of 1:05.975 with the soft tyre which is the hardest compound available to the drivers this weekend.

    Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was not too far off Hamilton’s time finishing the session 2nd fastest with a best time of 1:06.165 which was just 0.190s off. Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes finished 3rd fastest.

    Sebastian Vettel finished 4th fastest for Ferrari with Daniel Ricciardo 5th.

    It was not a session without some drama. The green track meant that the drivers did not have to do too much to get out of shape under braking unto T1. Carlos Sainz, Vettel, Raikkonen and Bottas had spins at Turn 1. Elsewhere on track, Verstappen was spat out of Turn 7, and across the gravel trap. He saved his slide just before the barrier but not before clouting the rear right on the tyre wall. He spent some time in the pits while the Red Bull mechanics examined his car for any damage.

     

    Free Practice 2

    After a little rain shower, Free Practice 2 was underway a little while later. The little bit of rain did not do much to wash out the rubber laid down during Free Practice 1 but the track once again proved to be very tricky.

    There were offs from McLaren’s Fernando Alonso who spun at Turn 6 after spending some time in the garage because of floor damage. Carlos Sainz spun a few times and went off at Turns 9 and 10. Daniil Kvyat, who ended his session early due to a brake problem, also ran a bit too hot into Turn 9 and had to take to the run off area.

    The best time of the session was once again set by Lewis Hamilton on the ultra softs. His time of 1:05.483 was just under half a second faster than his FP1 time on the soft compound tyres.

    Ferrari looked much closer in FP2 with Sebastian Vettel 0.147s off the pace in 2nd with Valtteri Bottas 3rd fastest for the session.

    The two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Ricciardo were 4th and 5th fastest respectively with Raikkonen in the second Ferrari in 6th.

    Finishing 7th fastest was Kevin Magnussen in the Haas with Alonso 8th fastest.

    Rounding out the top 10 were Nico Hulkenberg in the Renault in 9th and Romain Grojean 10th fastest for the session.

    The long run pace was very close between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. The low degradation characteristics of the circuit should make a one stop race the more likely strategy call.

    The battle will have to be won on track and with Hamilton being handed a 5-place grid penalty for a gearbox change Vettel will feel that he, ever so slightly, has the upper hand.

     

  • Hamilton Leads Close Canadian Grand Prix Free Practice 1

    Hamilton Leads Close Canadian Grand Prix Free Practice 1

    Lewis Hamilton launched Mercedes’ comeback this weekend with the fastest time for the first free practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix and the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

    Hamilton set a 1:13.809 to go fastest on the super soft tyres narrowly beating Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to the fastest time of the session by 0.198s. In fact, the top four drivers were covered by less than half a second.

    As expected the green track conditions produced a few spins and off track excursions for the drivers. As the track cleaned up, the lap times became progressively quicker.

    Valtteri Bottas finished the session third fastest ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

    The surprise of the day came courtesy of Force India who finished in an impressive 5th and 6th with Sergio Perez finishing in front of Esteban Ocon.

    Red Bull did not have the cleanest session with a few troubles for Max Verstappen out on track. Granted that the team only ran the super softs they’re still a few tenths off the pace. Team Principal Christian Horner said that on the super softs they were just over half a second off the pace and they expect to be between three and four-tenths off the pace on the ultra softs.

    Felipe Massa ended his session 8th fastest with his team mate and home town boy Lance Stroll finishing in 13th with the latter complaining about the lack of grip on his Williams.

    McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne had a good session compared to his team mate, Fernando Alonso. Alonso fresh from the back of his Indy 500 stint was keen to get back in the car but was confined to the garage with issues on his MCL32. When Alonso was able to get back out on track he could only complete one timed lap before a hydraulic problem forced him to stop on track.

    Mercedes are showing some early pace. Ferrari look right in there with Force India the best of the rest. Free Practice 2 still to come. We could see things changed up a bit.