First part of free practice
Cloudy. Dry. Air +16C, highway +24C
The weather forecast called for rain, so the riders took to the track from the very first minutes.
All teams are required to hold two Friday practice sessions per season for young drivers who have not driven more than two Grands Prix in their career. In the first session, there were four changes at once: Oliver Berman stepped behind the wheel of Kevin Magnussen’s car, Isaac Hajjar temporarily replaced Sergio Perez, Franco Colapinto – Logan Sargent and Jack Duane – Pierre Gasly. In the second session, the main drivers return to the wheel.
Several teams brought new products, several, including Ferrari, tested solutions prepared for the recent stages, in an attempt to get more out of them.
Red flags appeared in the tenth minute – after taking off in the seventh corner, Tsunoda got stuck in the gravel and couldn’t get out on his own. The evacuation took 15 minutes. Then the riders set off again.
In the final minutes there were problems with the hydraulics of Piastri’s car. Oscar stopped at the entrance of the pit lane, the mechanics helped her evacuate.
It started to rain, but this did not affect the results – the training was over.
Immediately after the end of the session time, a dangerous incident occurred: Hadjar drove slowly along the line and Norris, who was doing a fast lap, quickly closed in from behind. Before turn 10, Lando had to brake urgently to avoid a crash. Hajar apologized on the radio and said he had not seen Norris.
Lando Norris set the best time, completing a lap in 1:27.420.
Results of the first session
| Pilot | Team | Time | Difference | Circles |
| 1. L. Norris | McLaren | 1:27.420 | ||
| 2. L. Walk | Aston Martin | 1:27.554 | +0.134 | |
| 3. O. Piastri | McLaren | 1:27.631 | +0.211 | |
| 4. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:27.729 | +0.309 | |
| 5. D.Russell | Mercedes | 1:27.738 | +0.318 | |
| 6. F. Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:27.794 | +0.374 | |
| 7. L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:27.858 | +0.438 | |
| 8. S. Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:27,903 | +0.483 | |
| 9. K. Sainz | Ferrari | 1:27,925 | +0.505 | |
| 10. E.Okon | Alps | 1:27,974 | +0.554 | |
| 11. N. Hulkenberg | Hare | 1:28.082 | +0.662 | |
| 12. V. Bottas | Sauber | 1:28.254 | +0.834 | |
| 13. D.Ricciardo | RB | 1:28.477 | +1,057 | |
| 14. O. Berman | Hare | 1:28.536 | +1,116 | |
| 15. G. Zhou | Sauber | 1:28.590 | +1,170 | |
| 16. A. Elbon | Williams | 1:28.649 | +1,229 | |
| 17. D. Douin | Alps | 1:28.735 | +1,315 | |
| 18. F. Colapinto | Williams | 1:29,078 | +1,658 | |
| 19. A.Hajar | Red Bull | 1:29.270 | +1,850 | |
| 20. Yu.Tsunoda | RB | 1:29,864 | +2,444 |
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
