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.
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. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’29.106 | 29 | |
2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’29.184 | 0.078 | 29 |
3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’29.604 | 0.498 | 26 |
4 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’29.942 | 0.836 | 19 |
5 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’30.137 | 1.031 | 19 |
6 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’30.517 | 1.411 | 19 |
7 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’30.895 | 1.789 | 21 |
8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’30.993 | 1.887 | 20 |
9 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’30.999 | 1.893 | 26 |
10 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’31.041 | 1.935 | 27 |
11 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’31.200 | 2.094 | 24 |
12 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’31.210 | 2.104 | 32 |
13 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’31.297 | 2.191 | 33 |
14 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’31.610 | 2.504 | 24 |
15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’31.684 | 2.578 | 24 |
16 | 50 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Haas-Ferrari | 1’32.031 | 2.925 | 24 |
17 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’32.171 | 3.065 | 19 |
18 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’32.450 | 3.344 | 16 |
19 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’33.029 | 3.923 | 23 |
20 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’33.399 | 4.293 | 26 |
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
Driver | Team | Best super-soft time | Super-soft gap | Best soft time | Soft gap | Best medium time | Medium gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | None | 1’29.184 | 0.078 | None | ||
Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | None | 1’29.106 | 2’37.846 | 65.823 | ||
Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1’29.942 | 0.338 | 1’30.942 | 1.836 | 2’28.408 | 56.385 |
Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’29.604 | 1’30.225 | 1.119 | 6’54.096 | 322.073 | |
Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’30.517 | 0.913 | None | 3’56.096 | 144.073 | |
Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’30.137 | 0.533 | None | 3’48.096 | 136.073 | |
Sergio Perez | Force India | None | 1’31.297 | 2.191 | 1’32.023 | ||
Esteban Ocon | Force India | None | 1’31.210 | 2.104 | 1’32.504 | 0.481 | |
Felipe Massa | Williams | None | 1’30.999 | 1.893 | 2’18.990 | 46.967 | |
Lance Stroll | Williams | None | 1’31.684 | 2.578 | 2’36.241 | 64.218 | |
Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1’30.993 | 1.389 | 1’31.265 | 2.159 | 5’28.096 | 236.073 |
Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1’31.041 | 1.437 | 1’31.841 | 2.735 | 4’25.096 | 173.073 |
Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | 1’31.200 | 1.596 | None | 4’13.096 | 161.073 | |
Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1’30.895 | 1.291 | None | 5’05.096 | 213.073 | |
Romain Grosjean | Haas | None | 1’31.610 | 2.504 | 1’34.095 | 2.072 | |
Antonio Giovinazzi | Haas | None | 1’32.031 | 2.925 | None | ||
Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’32.171 | 2.567 | 1’33.084 | 3.978 | 2’24.689 | 52.666 |
Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’32.450 | 2.846 | None | 2’20.871 | 48.848 | |
Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | None | 1’33.399 | 4.293 | None | ||
Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | None | 1’33.029 | 3.923 | None |
2017 British Grand Prix
- 2017 British Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- Dominant Hamilton wins Driver of the Weekend
- British GP rates below its average despite late-race drama
- 2017 British Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2017 British Grand Prix Star Performers
Mashiat (@mashiat)
14th July 2017, 10:59
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.
sethje (@seth-space)
14th July 2017, 11:04
Let’s hope RBR finds the missing .5 seconds..
UnitedKingdomRacing (@unitedkingdomracing)
14th July 2017, 11:28
On the other hand this might tighten the championship again after Seb got away a bit. But its only practice.
Todfod (@todfod)
14th July 2017, 12:33
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.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
14th July 2017, 18:10
They might be “running in” the engine.
zimkazimka (@zimkazimka)
14th July 2017, 11:12
It might be more than that since they were on super softs, and Mercs were on softs.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
14th July 2017, 11:31
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.
matt
14th July 2017, 12:38
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.
JeffreyJ
14th July 2017, 12:41
They said some weeks ago that there wouldnt be anymore major upgrade until 2018, just minor software ones
Sonics (@sonicslv)
14th July 2017, 15:34
@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.
nelson piquet
14th July 2017, 12:27
ferrari seems cool with losing the development battle
matt
14th July 2017, 12:39
dont go getting any ideas bottas, we need a british driver to win this one to help save the race
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
14th July 2017, 18:28
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.
Georg
14th July 2017, 13:41
Is it possible to get proper xls/csv/txt files from all the sessions somewhere??
I only find the bloody fia pdf..