#F170 FP1 Report: @ValtteriBottas leads @MercedesAMGF1 one-two. #F1

F170 FP1 Report: Valtteri Bottas pipped Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in opening practice at Formula One’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

Mercedes took a comfortable one-two in FP1 as the drivers got to run Pirelli’s softer compound selection for the second weekend at the iconic Silverstone circuit.

The entire field opted to run the C4 red side-walled soft tyres for the majority of the 90 minute session, which is the softest compound of the range for this Grand Prix and was not used at last round’s event.

Many over the radio reported high tyre wear as the track temperatures soared to 45 degrees.

Bottas posted his best effort of a 1:26.166 on the C4 red-marked rubber to top the time-sheets and beating Mercedes team-mate Hamilton by 0.138 seconds.

Mercedes were dominate once again with closest rival from Red Bull Racing Max Verstappen wounding up in third and over 0.727 seconds adrift of Bottas’ F170 FP1 benchmark time.

Verstappen did not set his lap-time until an hour into the session after the Milton Keynes based-out made a number of changes to his Honda-powered RB16 racer and had a close-call with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc whilst on a flyer.

BWT Racing Point’s Nico Hulkenberg (substituting once again for regular Sergio Perez who remains positive for coronavirus) took fourth place and was within half a tenth of Verstappen’s best effort.

Leclerc completed the top five for Ferrari and was 0.896 seconds off of Bottas’ F170 FP1 benchmark time.

The second Red Bull of Alexander Albon was sixth fastest on the time-sheets, splitting the Ferrari pairing as Sebastian Vettel took seventh in the other SF1000.

Racing Point’s Lance Stroll ended opening practice eighth quickest and ahead of Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat and Renault’s Esteban Ocon who rounded out the top ten.

Pierre Gasly was 11th in the second Honda-powered AlphaTauri with the Frenchman reporting that there was “no rubber left” on his left-rear tyre, with tyre wear the main challenge among the drivers in the hot conditions.

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz were 12th and 14th respectively with Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean splitting the duo in-between with Sainz also reporting his tyres were destroyed at the session’s end.

Williams Racing’s George Russell took 15th and in-front of team-mate Nicholas Latifi who was 16th, whilst Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo was a low 17th.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen ended opening practice 18th and ahead of reserve Robert Kubica (who was filling in for regular Antonio Giovinazzi in FP1).

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen finished at the rear.

You can see the full Emirates Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix 2020 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1049/great-britain/practice-1.html

F1 2020 Quick News

• BWT Racing Point were deducted 15 points and fined $400,000 after the FIA stewards upheld Renault’s protest about the legality of the RP20. Racing Point became the talking point of the F1 paddock in pre-season testing when they unveiled it’s 2020 contender, which looked similar to last year’s championship-winning Mercedes F1 W10 EQ Power+. The stewards verdict was that the Silverstone-squad were fined €200,000 for fielding Sergio Perez’s RP20 in Styria along with the same amount for Lance Stroll’s. They were also docked 7.5 world championship points per car – though Perez and Stroll keep their World Driver’s Championship points. Protests for the Hungarian and British Grands Prix were also upheld, with Racing Point reprimanded for using their RP20’s in both races. You can read the full document at the link: https://www.fia.com/news/f1-renault-protest-decision

• Aston Martin Red Bull Racing have taken on new power-unit components for this weekend’s Emirates Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix 2020. Max Verstappen will be given a full change of power-unit elements while team-mate Alexander Albon will have a new ICE (Internal Combustion Engine), MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit- Kinetic), MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit-Heat) and Turbocharger, but no change to his Control Electronics and Energy Store. Both drivers will not receive any penalties for their changes.

• Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport announced the re-signing for Valtteri Bottas for 2021, extending their relationship for a fifth season. The Finn has become an integral part of the Silver Arrows since being brought in as replacement following Nico Rosberg’s shock retirement at the end of the 2016 campaign. Bottas has scored eight victories with the Brackley-based outfit so far and a season-best championship finish of second in 2019.

Catch up on this weekend’s Emirates Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix 2020 Preview at the link: @Emirates #Formula1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix 2020 Preview. #F1 #F170