Bottas breaks Silverstone track record in first practice

2017 British Grand Prix first practice

Posted on

| Written by

Valtteri Bottas set a new Silverstone track record during the first practice session for this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver took less than an hour to beat the 1’29.243 set by Lewis Hamilton during Q2 at last year’s race. Hamilton was within a tenth of a second of his team mate’s time at the end of the session.

British GP practice in pictures
While the Mercedes pair used the soft tyres to set their best times, Red Bull favoured the super-soft rubber. Max Verstappen ended practice within half a second of the quickest W08.

The Ferrari drivers also ran the super-softs but were around a second slower than the silver cars around the Northamptonshire track. Sebastian Vettel, who tested the Shield head protection system at the start of practice, ended up almost a second and a half slower. He also spun during an early run, forcing him into the pits with damaged tyres.

Both McLaren drivers made it into the top ten, Fernando Alonso falling short of Daniil Kvyat’s seventh-placed Toro Rosso by less than a tenth of a second. Kvyat had to drive back into the pits slowly at the end of the session due to a problem. Stoffel Vandoorne ended up tenth despite struggling with his brakes.

Felipe Massa was ninth despite running off-track at Copse corner, tearing up the underside of his FW40. Team mate Lance Stroll had to pit to have a loose component in his cockpit checked and was 15th.

Antonio Giovinazzi returned to action following his early-season outings for Sauber. This time he was at the wheel of a Haas and finish the session 16th, four-tenths of a second off Romain Grosjean.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
177Valtteri BottasMercedes1’29.10629
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’29.1840.07829
333Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’29.6040.49826
43Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’29.9420.83619
57Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’30.1371.03119
65Sebastian VettelFerrari1’30.5171.41119
726Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’30.8951.78921
814Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’30.9931.88720
919Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’30.9991.89326
102Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1’31.0411.93527
1155Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’31.2002.09424
1231Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’31.2102.10432
1311Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’31.2972.19133
148Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’31.6102.50424
1518Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’31.6842.57824
1650Antonio GiovinazziHaas-Ferrari1’32.0312.92524
1727Nico HulkenbergRenault1’32.1713.06519
1830Jolyon PalmerRenault1’32.4503.34416
1994Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1’33.0293.92323
209Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’33.3994.29326

First practice visual gaps

Valtteri Bottas – 1’29.106

+0.078 Lewis Hamilton – 1’29.184

+0.498 Max Verstappen – 1’29.604

+0.836 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’29.942

+1.031 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’30.137

+1.411 Sebastian Vettel – 1’30.517

+1.789 Daniil Kvyat – 1’30.895

+1.887 Fernando Alonso – 1’30.993

+1.893 Felipe Massa – 1’30.999

+1.935 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’31.041

+2.094 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’31.200

+2.104 Esteban Ocon – 1’31.210

+2.191 Sergio Perez – 1’31.297

+2.504 Romain Grosjean – 1’31.610

+2.578 Lance Stroll – 1’31.684

+2.925 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’32.031

+3.065 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’32.171

+3.344 Jolyon Palmer – 1’32.450

+3.923 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’33.029

+4.293 Marcus Ericsson – 1’33.399

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Best times by tyre

DriverTeamBest super-soft timeSuper-soft gapBest soft timeSoft gapBest medium timeMedium gap
Lewis HamiltonMercedesNone1’29.1840.078None
Valtteri BottasMercedesNone1’29.1062’37.84665.823
Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1’29.9420.3381’30.9421.8362’28.40856.385
Max VerstappenRed Bull1’29.6041’30.2251.1196’54.096322.073
Sebastian VettelFerrari1’30.5170.913None3’56.096144.073
Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’30.1370.533None3’48.096136.073
Sergio PerezForce IndiaNone1’31.2972.1911’32.023
Esteban OconForce IndiaNone1’31.2102.1041’32.5040.481
Felipe MassaWilliamsNone1’30.9991.8932’18.99046.967
Lance StrollWilliamsNone1’31.6842.5782’36.24164.218
Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1’30.9931.3891’31.2652.1595’28.096236.073
Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren1’31.0411.4371’31.8412.7354’25.096173.073
Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso1’31.2001.596None4’13.096161.073
Daniil KvyatToro Rosso1’30.8951.291None5’05.096213.073
Romain GrosjeanHaasNone1’31.6102.5041’34.0952.072
Antonio GiovinazziHaasNone1’32.0312.925None
Nico HulkenbergRenault1’32.1712.5671’33.0843.9782’24.68952.666
Jolyon PalmerRenault1’32.4502.846None2’20.87148.848
Marcus EricssonSauberNone1’33.3994.293None
Pascal WehrleinSauberNone1’33.0293.923None

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

14 comments on “Bottas breaks Silverstone track record in first practice”

  1. Ferrari looks to be worryingly behind. Hope they can turn this around in time for qualifying otherwise it might be only a two horse race.

    1. Let’s hope RBR finds the missing .5 seconds..

    2. On the other hand this might tighten the championship again after Seb got away a bit. But its only practice.

    3. We always knew Ferrari are poor at the development race, but didn’t expect them to be a second behind with their new engine update in place. Maybe it’s just practice and they’ll improve their time tomorrow.

      Either ways, for the 2nd half of the season, I feel Mercedes should have the upper hand.

      1. They might be “running in” the engine.

  2. It might be more than that since they were on super softs, and Mercs were on softs.

  3. While Mercedes seems to have got ahead of their tyres problems and enjoy a clearer advantage for some week-ends now, it also looks like Sauber is falling behind at en even faster rate.

    They are now very much exposed to McLaren scoring some points before the end of the season and jumping them. McLaren is now running consistently ahead of Sauber (read consistently ahead of Sauber when running) during the race…

    Does anyone knows if Renault has decided to turn full on on 2018 season ? It was always going to be a transition year for them without much expectation on results. What is the point for them to continue developing their actual chassis. Their place this year is probably just ahead of McLaren and Sauber by the end of the year anyway.

    1. the point is thst they are not in it to loose and if they want sponsorship and good drivers next year then they have to do their best this year.

    2. They said some weeks ago that there wouldnt be anymore major upgrade until 2018, just minor software ones

    3. @jeanrien McLaren actually faster than Sauber and sometimes Renault since the start of the season. Alonso consistently within or close to the points when he has to retire. They really only fighting Honda reliability this year.

  4. nelson piquet
    14th July 2017, 12:27

    ferrari seems cool with losing the development battle

  5. dont go getting any ideas bottas, we need a british driver to win this one to help save the race

    1. Daniel Ricciardo’s smile on the top step of the podium would be awesome, but the National Anthem won’t be God Save the Queen.

  6. Is it possible to get proper xls/csv/txt files from all the sessions somewhere??
    I only find the bloody fia pdf..

Comments are closed.