#EmiliaRomagnaGP FP1: @ValtteriBottas pips @LewisHamilton to go quickest in session. #F1

Valtteri Bottas topped the opening FP1 session at the Emilia Romagna GP ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes one-two with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen completing the top three as the session ended under red flags due to Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin’s crash.

Bottas, Hamilton and Verstappen were just split by 0.058 seconds.

In sunny conditions at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, most of the field headed out early on in the hour’s running, with several drivers enjoying top spot during a wild opening 15 minutes.

Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon posted the initial fastest lap time with a 1:26.246, but the benchmark was lowered rapidly as the drivers ran explored the Imola circuit on the C2 white-marked harder tyres.

Bottas’ 1:20.345 on the hards was the first real flyer of the opening session, but that soon was beaten by Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen before the Finn planted his F1 W12 on top with a 1:19.312.

Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez then lowered the benchmark to a 1:19.205 before Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz beat the Mexican’s effort with a 1:18.764 on the white-branded compounds.

Hamilton then used the same tyres to momentarily claim top spot with a 1:18.257 before Sainz improved once more as the Spaniard’s run continued with two fastest laps, that brought the P1 time down to a 1:17.682 15 minutes in – just before Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda suffered a brief off-track excursion into the Tamburello chicane gravel trap.

After a 10 minute lull, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly topped the time-sheets posting a 1:17.470 and after a further 10 minutes, Bottas once again took P1 on a 1:17.396 – just before Hamilton cut the grass at Variante Alta.

Sainz then reclaimed top spot with a 1:17.296, before the session was red flagged following a collision between Perez and Albon.

The Mexican’s Honda-powered RB16B came to a halt at the exit of the Villeneuve chicane with his left-rear tyre blown off it’s wheel rim, with Ocon’s Alpine stopped further down the track with damage to the front-right of his A521.

After a stoppage of over 10 minutes, the session went back to green, with the drivers switching to the C4 red-branded softer compounds to post a series of flying laps as FP1 drew to a close.

Hamilton grabbed first place with a 1:16.892 with less than 10 minutes remaining on the clock, before Verstappen’s hot lap on the C4 softs put the Red Bull driver on top with a 1:16.622.

It looked as though Verstappen would remain on top of the time-sheets – after he had a clean practice sweep at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix – but the Silver Arrows went for a last flying run, which saw the Dutchman drop to third.

Hamilton’s late effort initially put the Briton into P1 before Bottas, who clinched pole position at last year’s visit to Imola, pipped his Mercedes team-mate by 0.041 seconds with a 1:16.622.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc missed a large chunk of the sessions opening 30 minutes as the Scuderia investigated an issue on his SF21 racer, but the Monegasque-youngster put in a decent lap in the closing stages to grab P4, to relegate Gasly down to fifth.

Sainz eventually ended FP1 in sixth place in-front of Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso who took seventh and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who was eighth.

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi – who suffered an off into the gravel trap after catching a snap of oversteer as he exited the first Rivazza corner following the session’s restart – taking ninth place and ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who rounded out the top ten.

Williams Racing’s George Russell was 11th and in-front of Alfa’s Raikkonen who took 12th, McLaren’s Lando Norris who ended FP1 13th and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel who finished 14th.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi completed opening practice in 15th, with the aforementioned Perez and Ocon wounding up 16th and 17th respectively in the time-sheets as their tangle ended their respective sessions early.

A second red flag was brought out at session’s end after Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin spun off exiting the second Rivazza corner – and knocked the left-front part of his front wing off of his VF-21 racer against the wall near the pit entry.

This was the same spot where the Russian spun during the session’s opening laps, he dipped his right side wheels over the kerb and into the gravel, which forced him into a spin and sent the VF-21 into the wall.

Mazepin ended the session 18th and in-front of Haas team-mate Mick Schumacher who was 19th with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda brought up the rear and was 3.217 seconds adrift of Bottas’ Emilia Romagna FP1 benchmark.

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio Del Made In Italy Dell’emilia Romagna 2021 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1065/italy/practice-1.html

#F1 Pirelli Gran Premio Del Made In Italy Dell’emilia Romagna 2021 Preview. #EmiliaRomagnaGP