#BritishGP FP1 Report: @Max33Verstappen fastest, #Vettel suffers issue. #F1

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen topped the time-sheets ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in FP1 at the British GP.

Verstappen’s benchmark of a 1:27.422 meant he finished 0.474 seconds clear of World Driver’s Championship leader Hamilton, but the Dutchman used the red-marked softs while the latter used the medium rubber for their flyers.

Racing Point’s Lance Stroll was third quickest and wound up eight tenths quicker than Nico Hulkenberg.

After being called in as Sergio Perez’s substitute, Hulkenberg made it into the British Grand Prix paddock just time before opening practice after receiving his negative coronavirus test result for the German to take part in the 90-minute session.

Hulkenberg hit the circuit 15 minutes in and ended ninth fastest.

The second Red Bull of Alexander Albon was fourth and 0.707 seconds adrift of team-mate Verstappen’s benchmark time whilst Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounded out the top five.

Leclerc was the Scuderia’s only runner for most of the session after team-mate Sebastian Vettel was only able to complete two tours due to an intercooler issue in his SF1000 racer.

Ferrari said it would strip down Vettel’s car and resolve the issue ahead of the afternoon’s Free Practice Two session coming up.

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Valtteri Bottas took sixth and posted his best lap on the white side-walled hard compounds.

Renault duo Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo were seventh and eighth respectively and in-front of the aforementioned ninth-placed Hulkenberg while Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat completed the top ten.

The other Honda-powered AT01 of Pierre Gasly was 11th and ahead of the McLaren’s Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz who took 12th and 13th respectively.

Haas F1 Team pairing Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean ended opening practice 14th and 15th, while Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen was 16th.

Williams Racing’s George Russell finished 17th despite reporting his Mercedes-powered FW43 racer feeling wobbly through the fast Maggots and Becketts complex. His team-mate Nicholas Latifi wound up 19th on the time-sheets.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi brought out the red flags almost thirty minutes in after suffering a spin upon the exit of Becketts into Chapel, causing his C39 racer to suffer massive flat-spots on all four tyres and damage to his floor.

This left debris all over the Hangar Straight, calling on race control to halt the session while it was cleared.

Giovinazzi went to visit the stewards over the incident over a rule breach for driving dangerously or too slowly, as the Italian took 18th and ahead of the aforementioned Latifi and Vettel.

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1048/great-britain/practice-1.html

Catch up on this weekend’s Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020 Race Preview at the link: #F1 @Pirelli #BritishGP 2020 Preview. @SilverstoneCircuit @F1