Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc edged out Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen by 0.082s in FP1 of F1 Russian GP at Sochi with Sebastian Vettel in third.
Barely a week since the Singapore GP, the F1 circus was back with the FP1 of Russian GP at Sochi Autodrom. It was Ferrari on top again with Leclerc (1m34.462s) edging out Verstappen (1m34.544s) by just the 0.082s.
Vettel was more than half a second away from Leclerc with a 1m35.005s, with Mercedes drivers Valtteri Bottas (1m35.198s) and Lewis Hamilton (1m35.411s) in fourth and fifth on medium tyres.
Bottas also had a late DRS failure. The Top 6 had Red Bull’s Alexander Albon (1m35.484s) with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (1m35.740s) and Daniel Ricciardo (1m36.287s) following in seventh and eighth inside the Top 10.
Racing Point’s Sergio Perez (1m36.321s) and Haas’ Romain Grosjean (1m36.516s) then completed the Top 10. It wasn’t a cleanest of sessions though with multiple cars going off and also spinning.
Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi, Williams’ Robert Kubica and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo had proper spin, with the Australian hitting the barrier at Turn 10 with heavy damage to his rear wing.
McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Racing Point’s Perez had offs. There was also a Virtual Safety Car period for Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat as he had to stop the car after only five laps with a suspected fuel system issue.
Sainz (1m36.523s) slotted in 11th with the sole Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly (1m36.538s) in 12th from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m36.596s) and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (1m36.714s).
The lead Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen (1m36.770s) was only 15th with McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m36.844s) down in 16th from Giovinazzi (1m37.328s) and Williams’ George Russell (1m38.520s).
Despite the early end and just the five laps, Kvyat (1m38.550s) ended up 19th and ahead of Kubica (1m38.670s), who had the new Mercedes spec fitted on his car.