Bottas breaks track record and heads FP1 at Silverstone

Valtteri Bottas Silverstone First Practice
© XPB 

Mercedes Valtteri Bottas picked up where he left off in Austria last week, clocking in Friday morning at Silverstone with the fastest lap in FP1.

With a 1:29.106, the Finn beat the track's lap record, set by team mate Lewis Hamilton in Q2 last year.

The Brit was right on the heels of Bottas however, ending the session just 0.078 behind. Both drivers relied on Pirelli's Soft compound to set their fastest times.

The German squad's performance was rather ominous given that Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were about half a second adrift but on the theoretically faster Supersoft tyres.

It was a rather scrappy session for Ferrari, with both Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel  appearing to struggle for grip, the latter spinning and forcing him into the pits for a tyre change.

Toro Rosso's Dany Kvyat was P7, just in front of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. Both McLaren drivers made it into the top ten, with Stoffel Vandoorne rounding out the group.

Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi slotted in for Kevin Magnussen at Haas and ended the session P16, four-tenths of a second off team mate Romain Grosjean.

British Grand Prix - Free Practice 1 results

PosDriverTeamTimeGapLaps
1Valtteri BottasMercedes1:29.106s29
2Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:29.184s+ 0.078s29
3Max VerstappenRed Bull1:29.604s+ 0.498s26
4Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1:29.942s+ 0.836s19
5Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:30.137s+ 1.031s19
6Sebastian VettelFerrari1:30.517s+ 1.411s19
7Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1:30.895s+ 1.789s21
8Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1:30.993s+ 1.887s20
9Felipe MassaWilliams1:30.999s+ 1.893s26
10Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren1:31.041s+ 1.935s27
11Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:31.200s+ 2.094s24
12Esteban OconForce India1:31.210s+ 2.104s32
13Sergio PérezForce India1:31.297s+ 2.191s34
14Romain GrosjeanHaas1:31.610s+ 2.504s24
15Lance StrollWilliams1:31.684s+ 2.578s24
16Antonio GiovinazziHaas1:32.031s+ 2.925s24
17Nico HülkenbergRenault1:32.171s+ 3.065s19
18Jolyon PalmerRenault1:32.450s+ 3.344s16
19Pascal WehrleinSauber1:33.029s+ 3.923s23
20Marcus EricssonSauber1:33.399s+ 4.293s26

 

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