Pierre Gasly led the way in first practice at Silverstone as a new track surface and mid-session shower caught several drivers out.
One of the first drivers to run into trouble was Romain Grosjean, who knocked the front wing off his Haas in a bizarre incident at the it lane exit. Grosjean spun his car in the right-hander leading onto the track and struck the barrier on the inside of the corner.He had to lap the track in his damaged car, dropped further debris as he went which caused a Virtual Safety Car period. Grosjean had a further spin later in the session at Luffield, this time without damaging his car.
Several other drivers went off-track during the session, including home race debutants Lando Norris and George Russell. With around half an hour to go a light rain shower made the recently-laid new asphalt even slipperier, and sent all the drivers into the pits. The track dried out sufficiently for a late flurry of laps to be possible.
Despite the tricky conditions, Gasly’s best time was three-tenths of a second faster than the quickest lap from the same session 12 months ago. He deposed Valtteri Bottas from the top of the times with his penultimate lap of the session.
Max Verstappen backed his team mate up in third place. He was followed by Lewis Hamilton, who remarked at the end of the session that the track still felt bumpy despite the resurfacing.
Charles Leclerc, who was frustrated by traffic on several of his runs, was next, followed by Sebastian Vettel. The Ferrari pair were followed by the two Renaults, then Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz Jnr.
The session was disrupted for a few minutes at te halfway point when Kimi Raikkonen suffered a suspected power unit problem. His Alfa Romeo came to a stop at Luffield.
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First practice visual gaps
Pierre Gasly – 1’27.173
+0.456 Valtteri Bottas – 1’27.629
+0.836 Max Verstappen – 1’28.009
+0.949 Lewis Hamilton – 1’28.122
+1.080 Charles Leclerc – 1’28.253
+1.131 Sebastian Vettel – 1’28.304
+1.630 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’28.803
+1.858 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’29.031
+1.920 Alexander Albon – 1’29.093
+1.989 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’29.162
+1.997 Lando Norris – 1’29.170
+2.280 Sergio Perez – 1’29.453
+2.327 Daniil Kvyat – 1’29.500
+2.484 Lance Stroll – 1’29.657
+2.926 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’30.099
+3.432 Kevin Magnussen – 1’30.605
+3.568 George Russell – 1’30.741
+3.574 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’30.747
+3.638 Romain Grosjean – 1’30.811
+4.948 Robert Kubica – 1’32.121
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
12th July 2019, 11:56
Tried mode 11….
MacLeod (@macleod)
12th July 2019, 12:50
Yes, indeed seems to help!
pSynrg (@psynrg)
12th July 2019, 12:58
Early doors and all that, but it would be a tad amusing, to say the least, if Pierre was consistently faster than Max, using Max’s setup.
rob91
12th July 2019, 13:07
Bye bye Romain Grosjean, hello Pietro Fittipaldi.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
12th July 2019, 13:11
Grosjean wanted rid of those Rich Energy logos pretty fast didn’t he?
Todfod (@todfod)
12th July 2019, 13:30
Russell is really taking the fight to the Haas cars. Hats off to him!
Gasly must be thrilled to at least top FP1 for a change. I guess Max’s setup does work for him.
Chaitanya
12th July 2019, 13:58
If it rains during this year’s MotoGP then it will another farcical showing like last year pushing another discussion of removing this track from calender. What a joke of resurfacing job by owners of this track.
toiago (@toiago)
12th July 2019, 14:34
That was a quick system reboot!
erikje
12th July 2019, 18:38
Probably a SSD
Miguel Sampaio (@gordess)
12th July 2019, 14:44
@keithcollantine, the title of the news on the homepage is incorrect ;) (“Bottas quickest in first practice at slippery Silverstone”)
GechiChan (@gechichan)
12th July 2019, 16:03
great time from Russel, he’s among the Haas and Alfas, while also putting Kubica to shame again.