Pierre Gasly, Red Bull, Red Bull Ring, 2019

Gasly quickest after late flier at slippery Silverstone

2019 British Grand Prix first practice

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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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Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 10 Pierre Gasly Red Bull-Honda 1’27.173 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1’27.629 0.456 29
3 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda 1’28.009 0.836 21
4 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’28.122 0.949 26
5 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’28.253 1.080 21
6 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’28.304 1.131 21
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1’28.803 1.630 21
8 3 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1’29.031 1.858 24
9 23 Alexander Albon Toro Rosso-Honda 1’29.093 1.920 26
10 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr McLaren-Renault 1’29.162 1.989 31
11 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 1’29.170 1.997 23
12 11 Sergio Perez Racing Point-Mercedes 1’29.453 2.280 27
13 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Honda 1’29.500 2.327 26
14 18 Lance Stroll Racing Point-Mercedes 1’29.657 2.484 25
15 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1’30.099 2.926 24
16 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1’30.605 3.432 24
17 63 George Russell Williams-Mercedes 1’30.741 3.568 25
18 7 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1’30.747 3.574 12
19 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1’30.811 3.638 22
20 88 Robert Kubica Williams-Mercedes 1’32.121 4.948 27

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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2019 British Grand Prix

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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...

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11 comments on “Gasly quickest after late flier at slippery Silverstone”

  1. Tried mode 11….

    1. Yes, indeed seems to help!

  2. 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.

  3. Bye bye Romain Grosjean, hello Pietro Fittipaldi.

  4. Grosjean wanted rid of those Rich Energy logos pretty fast didn’t he?

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. That was a quick system reboot!

    1. Probably a SSD

  8. @keithcollantine, the title of the news on the homepage is incorrect ;) (“Bottas quickest in first practice at slippery Silverstone”)

  9. great time from Russel, he’s among the Haas and Alfas, while also putting Kubica to shame again.

Comments are closed.