Alexander Albon, Red Bull, Interlagos, 2019

Albon fastest despite crashing in wet practice session

2019 Brazilian Grand Prix first practice

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Alexander Albon was quickest in a rain-hit first practice session at Interlagos – but finished his run in the wall.

The Red Bull driver skidded off at Juncao as he prepared to begin his first run on slick tyres in a session which began on a very wet circuit. The RB15 snapped sideways under braking on the way into the corner.

All four of the Red Bull-backed drivers risked runs on soft tyres in the final minutes of practice, but it paid off for none of them. Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat also spun at turn one, but without hitting anything. “For me it’s too wet and pointless,” reported Kvyat after his spin, at around the same time Albon was heading into the barrier.

Albon set the quickest practice lap earlier in the sessions on intermediate tyres. A 1’16.142 put him on top of the times by over half a second from Valtteri Bottas and the two Ferrari drivers. Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc had a busy start to the session when the track was at its wettest.

Carlos Sainz Jnr, who was the first driver to set a time on the soaked track, set the fifth-fastest time for McLaren. He was followed by the Renault and Toro Rosso drivers, followed by team mate Lando Norris.

Williams test driver Nicholas Latifi was last of the 16 drivers who set times. Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were among those who did not set times, though the world champion ventured out of the pits on medium compound slick tyres at the end of the session.

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Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 23 Alexander Albon Red Bull-Honda 1’16.142 9
2 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1’16.693 0.551 10
3 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’17.041 0.899 13
4 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’17.285 1.143 13
5 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr McLaren-Renault 1’17.786 1.644 16
6 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1’17.899 1.757 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1’17.985 1.843 9
8 10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Honda 1’18.100 1.958 17
9 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Honda 1’18.274 2.132 16
10 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 1’18.559 2.417 15
11 63 George Russell Williams-Mercedes 1’18.779 2.637 18
12 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1’19.247 3.105 10
13 18 Lance Stroll Racing Point-Mercedes 1’19.414 3.272 6
14 7 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1’19.532 3.390 12
15 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1’19.600 3.458 18
16 40 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 1’20.010 3.868 16
17 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 3
18 11 Sergio Perez Racing Point-Mercedes 1
19 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda 3
20 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 3

First practice visual gaps

Alexander Albon – 1’16.142

+0.551 Valtteri Bottas – 1’16.693

+0.899 Sebastian Vettel – 1’17.041

+1.143 Charles Leclerc – 1’17.285

+1.644 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’17.786

+1.757 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’17.899

+1.843 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’17.985

+1.958 Pierre Gasly – 1’18.100

+2.132 Daniil Kvyat – 1’18.274

+2.417 Lando Norris – 1’18.559

+2.637 George Russell – 1’18.779

+3.105 Kevin Magnussen – 1’19.247

+3.272 Lance Stroll – 1’19.414

+3.390 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’19.532

+3.458 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’19.600

+3.868 Nicholas Latifi – 1’20.010

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

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2019 Brazilian Grand Prix

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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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3 comments on “Albon fastest despite crashing in wet practice session”

  1. lol this i didn’t expect! both Max and Lewis didn’t finish a lap and Albon fastest

  2. So technically Albon is on provisional pole now ;)

  3. Is Latifi that slow? He has been off the pace in every session he has participated. Since he is a rookie there’s room for improvement but he has been almost slower than Kubica compared to Russel or is Russel that good?

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