Valtteri Bottas tops the first practice at Mugello

This weekend Formula 1 arrives at Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello for the first time for the Tuscan Grand Prix. For most of the drivers, this is their first time at Mugello so the weekend will be a real test to them. This weekend is also Scuderia Ferrari’s 1000^th race in Formula 1 history.

The first practice session was topped by Valtteri Bottas, while his team-mate Lewis Hamilton couldn’t quite join him on the top row and finished fourth.

The Aston Martin Red Bull Racing cars of Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon were out as soon as the session started so they could get a feel of the track. Verstappen finished just 0.048 seconds behind Bottas. Albon still couldn’t match the pace of his team-mate and finished a second behind Verstappen in ninth.

Ferrari had a more promising practice session as Charles Leclerc switched chassis after his crash at Monza. He was able to get his SF1000 into third place. Sebastian Vettel wasn’t as fortunate, finishing down in thirteenth.

Scuderia AlphaTauri continued on their winning momentum from Monza and kept themselves high up in the standings for the first practice. Pierre Gasly finished in fifth with team-mate Daniil Kyvat in seventh.

McLaren F1 team trialled a new nose on Carlos Sainz Jr’s. car for the first twenty minutes of the session. This is the nose they plan to use on the 2021 cars. Sainz Jr. unfortunately did not have a good practice, only achieving fifteenth. Lando Norris’s was able to get his car into eighth.

Renault DP World F1 team have been one of the stronger midfield teams across the previous weeks. Esteban Ocon tends to trail behind his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo however it was the Frenchman who was strongest out of the pairing. He put himself sixth with Ricciardo in tenth.

This weekend is also a celebration for Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn driver had his first test for Sauber twenty years ago today. Coincidently, that test was at Mugello. He finished in eleventh with Antonio Giovinazzi in fourteenth.

The BWT Racing Point Formula One team had a disappointing first practice. They stayed on the hard compound tyres for duration. They finished nearly rock bottom. Lance Stroll was eighteenth and Sergio Pérez in nineteenth.

In results elsewhere, Romain Grosjean came twelfth, George Russell sixteenth, Kevin Magnussen seventeenth and Nicholas Latifi bottom in twentieth.

Pos.	#	Driver	Nat.	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:17.879		33
2	33	Max Verstappen	NED	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	1:17.927	+0.048s	32
3	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1:18.186	+0.307s	27
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:18.409	+0.530s	28
5	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1:18.676	+0.797s	30
6	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Renault DP World F1 Team	1:18.805	+0.926s	28
7	26	Daniil Kvyat	RUS	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1:18.839	+0.960s	31
8	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:18.981	+1.102s	30
9	23	Alexander Albon	THA	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	1:19.068	+1.189s	34
10	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	Renault DP World F1 Team	1:19.140	+1.261s	25
11	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:19.219	+1.340s	21
12	8	Romain Grosjean	FRA	Haas F1 Team	1:19.224	+1.345s	25
13	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Scuderia Ferrari	1:19.267	+1.388s	27
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:19.322	+1.443s	28
15	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	ESP	McLaren F1 Team	1:19.457	+1.578s	33
16	63	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	1:19.478	+1.599s	29
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	1:19.551	+1.672s	25
18	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	BWT Racing Point Formula One Team	1:19.836	+1.957s	23
19	11	Sergio Pérez	MEX	BWT Racing Point Formula One Team	1:19.840	+1.961s	29
20	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1:20.034	+2.155s	32