Lando Norris leads the way in opening practice at Brands Hatch as the Carlin team impresses. The top position changed hands many times during the first practice for the new MSA Formula in a session that also saw a red flag.
The 45 minute session started with Ricky Collard leaving the pits first. However it was Sennan Fielding who set the first lap, with a 1:06.155. It didn’t take the times to drop with Norris the first driver to break the 1 minute mark, only 4 minutes into the session. After the times had started to settle, it was the American Colton Herta who found himself on top, he went on to improve his time with a 53.792.
After 15 minutes, the times started falling again with Gustavo Myasava, Norris and Feilding taking time at the top of the timing screens. The three drivers swapped fastest laps, but with 18 minutes to go of the session, a red flag appeared. An off for Alexandra Marinescu put an end to her running, as the cars filtered back into the pits.
The session restarted with 12 minutes to go. Herta leaped up to 2nd before setting another lap to go top. One lap later and he found himself with a 0.37sec gap to his competitors. Other improvements were seen from Enaam Ahmed who jumped from 12th to 4th. The top spot changed hands many times in the final 5 minutes. Collard was the first to strike, as Daniel Baybutt, Jack Barlow, and Dan Ticktum set purple laps. It was Norris however who ended the session as the fastest man with a 50.624
Behind Norris, was Ticktum, the top rookie, by only 0.041 seconds. Barlow, Baybutt and Herta rounding out the top 5 as Fielding who had set quick laps early on dropped to 9th.
Brands Hatch Practice 1 Times
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