Bottas takes early honours from Hamilton as Mercedes again dominate
Bottas takes early honours from Hamilton as Mercedes again dominate
Valtteri Bottas staked his claim to end Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton's winning run by finishing quickest at the end of first practice for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
Five days after Bottas' world championship hopes nosedived with a puncture two laps from the finish of the British Grand Prix, the Finn returned to Silverstone to prove that incident was now firmly in the past.
Bottas topped the timesheet with a lap of one minute 26.166secs, and for the first time this season at the end of FP1, leaving Hamilton 0.138s adrift, and with the rest of the field again trailing.
To try and add a different dimension to this weekend's event, tyre supplier Pirelli is running a softer step across its three compounds compared to those used last weekend.
It meant that Bottas' time was 1.3s quicker than Max Verstappen's leading FP1 time from a week ago, but with the offset being the rapidity in which the rubber degraded, notably in the hot conditions, with track and air temperatures of 43 and 27 degrees centigrade respectively.
Red Bull's Verstappen, who took advantage of Bottas' tyre woes on Sunday to finish second behind race-winner Hamilton, had to content himself with third quickest on this occasion, and 0.727s down.
The Dutch driver finished just 0.049s ahead of Racing Point's Nico Hülkenberg, back in the RP20 again following a second positive Covid-19 test, and hoping to race on Sunday after a mechanical issue forced him out of the British GP prior to the start.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was the only other driver to get within a second of Bottas, finishing 0.896s down.
The Monégasque was followed by Alex Albon in his Red Bull, but with the Thai-British driver complaining heavily of understeer, a further sign of how uncomfortable he is at present with the RB16.
After his travails across the entirety of last weekend, Sebastian Vettel at least managed to enjoy a full practice session, with the four-time F1 champion seventh quickest and 1.332s adrift.
Racing Point's Lance Stroll, Daniil Kvyat in his AlphaTauri and Renault's Esteban Ocon completed the top 10, with the latter 1.5s off the pace.
As for McLaren duo Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, they finished in a lowly 12th and 14th positions respectively, albeit with the team conducting an extensive programme of testing small set-up changes.
Williams' George Russell was 15th, two seconds back, with Daniel Ricciardo in his Renault a further three tenths down in 17th.
Robert Kubica, enjoying another FP1 session for Alfa Romeo, was down in 19th, 2.794s down and three-tenths behind team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Haas driver Kevin Magnussen brought up the rear, just over three seconds down.
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
F1 stars set for THRILLING championship-winning car drive
- 12 minutes ago
Motorsport chief SLAMS F1 over Red Bull
- 1 hour ago
Former F1 boss makes SHOCKING Verstappen declaration
- 1 hour ago
Former F1 boss says Red Bull 'rethink' underway amid Horner saga
- 2 hours ago
F1 News Today: Horner investigation TOLL on Verstappen revealed as question marks arise over Hamilton Ferrari switch
- Today 05:57
Horner accuser 'angry and upset' over Red Bull SNUB as Perez bemoans lack of clarity - GPFans F1 Recap
- Yesterday 23:57
F1 Race Calendar
-
GP BAHRAIN
29 Feb - 2 Mar
Max Verstappen
-
GP SAUDI ARABIA
7 - 9 Mar
Max Verstappen
- GP AUSTRALIA 22 - 24 Mar
- GP JAPAN 5 - 7 Apr
- GP CHINA 19 - 21 Apr
- GP USA 3 - 6 May
- GP ITALY 17 - 19 May
Related news
Hamilton hits out at 'SHOCKING' Mercedes performance
F1 regulations DON'T help competitive racing insists Mercedes chief
F1 aero chief declares key area Red Bull are NOT quickest
Wolff SNUBS Bearman while revealing his 'standout' F1 rising star
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860