The 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship resumed with the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix race at Silverstone today. The first practice session (FP1) of the fifth race of the season was headed by Valtteri Bottas with Lewis Hamilton just 0.138 seconds behind him.
The ninety-minute long free practice session started under clear skies with the air temperature at 29 degrees C and the track temperature at 43 degrees C.
The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4).
Nico Hulkenberg was driving for the BWT Racing Point Formula 1 team in place of Sergio Pérez as the Mexican’s latest Covid-19 test was also positive. There was also additional off-track news for the Silverstone-team as the FIA upheld the Renault DP World F1 team’s protest and fined Racing Point and docked fifteen world championship points.
Robert Kubica took the place of Antonio Giovinazzi for Alfa Romeo Racing team for this practice session.
The teams used this session to collect data on the performance of the Pirelli tyres due to the tyre issues in the final laps of the British Grand Prix at the same venue last week. The temperatures are hotter this weekend and the Pirelli tyres are a step softer for this race.
Most of the session was spent by the drivers collecting data on the soft compound tytes (C4) which was not used last weekend. The tyre wear was high on these tyres.
The Aston Martin Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari cars had a skinnier rear-wing and were in a low downforce configuration in a bid to match the faster Merecedes W11.
Both the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers were at the top of the time charts for the whole session with Bottas leading another Mercedes 1-2.
Max Verstappen sat in the garage for the first hour before coming out and setting the third fastest time, 0.727 seconds behind Bottas. Team-mate Alexander Albon continued to struggle and finished in sixth position.
Hulkenberg continued to impress as he finished in fourth position ahead of team-mate Lance Stroll in eighth position.
Charles Leclerc was the leading Ferrari driver in fifth position ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel in seventh position.
Danill Kvyat and Esteban Ocon completed the top 10 positions. Kvyat’s team-mate Pierre Gasly was in eleventh position as he reported high tyre wear.
The McLaren F1 team drivers, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, had a quiet session and finished in twelfth and fourteenth positions respectively.
Daniel Ricciardo finished in seventeenth position as he languished at the bottom of the time charts with the Williams Racing, Alfa Romeo Racing and Haas F1 team drivers.
70th Anniversary Grand Prix First Free Practice Results:
Pos | No | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 01:26.166 | 21 | |
2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 01:26.304 | +0.138s | 23 |
3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda | 01:26.893 | +0.727s | 24 |
4 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Racing Point BWT Mercedes | 01:26.942 | +0.776s | 25 |
5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 01:27.062 | +0.896s | 20 |
6 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull Racing Honda | 01:27.280 | +1.114s | 22 |
7 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 01:27.498 | +1.332s | 21 |
8 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point BWT Mercedes | 01:27.539 | +1.373s | 26 |
9 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri Honda | 01:27.653 | +1.487s | 27 |
10 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 01:27.701 | +1.535s | 23 |
11 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri Honda | 01:27.707 | +1.541s | 23 |
12 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Renault | 01:27.846 | +1.680s | 26 |
13 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 01:27.908 | +1.742s | 26 |
14 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren Renault | 01:28.138 | +1.972s | 28 |
15 | 63 | George Russell | Williams Mercedes | 01:28.170 | +2.004s | 24 |
16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes | 01:28.226 | +2.060s | 24 |
17 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 01:28.511 | +2.345s | 23 |
18 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 01:28.655 | +2.489s | 24 |
19 | 88 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 01:28.960 | +2.794s | 22 |
20 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 01:29.319 | +3.153s | 17 |