#SakhirGP FP1 Report: @GeorgeRussell63 quickest ahead of @RedBullRacing pairing. #F1

George Russell in his first outing for Mercedes topped the time-sheets in FP1 at the Sakhir GP on the outer loop layout ahead of Red Bull Racing duo Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon.

After being picked as seven-time World Champion’s Lewis Hamilton’s replacement following his fellow British-compatriots positive coronavirus test, Russell showed a promising initial impression in the Mercedes F1 W11 EQ Power+ racer.

Russell was nine-tenths behind Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas’s early effort following the initial early soft tyre runs in opening practice, only to find plenty of time during the second stints.

Russell found more than a second after pitting for a fresh set of the red-branded C4 softer tyres, allowing the Briton to take top in the time-sheets before Red Bull pairing Verstappen and Albon both had their moment in P1.

But another improvement from Russell saw him post a 54.546, claiming the head of the time-sheets by 0.176 seconds by sessions end.

The Briton was reporting regularly to race engineer Pete Bonnington about discomfort with his seat around his shoulders at a point during the session.

Verstappen took second place in his Honda-powered RB16 while team-mate Albon was third in the other Red Bull and was 0.265 seconds adrift of Russell’s Sakhir GP FP1 benchmark time.

Bottas settled for fourth in the second Mercedes, wounding up 0.322 seconds off of team-mate Russell’s effort with the Finn suffering multiple lock-ups. which saw him go wide at the first corner and unsure what was going on via the team radio.

Scuderia AlphaTauri duo Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly ended opening practice in fifth and sixth respectively, with the latter forced to pit at one stage due to a broken mirror, causing the Frenchman to driver one-handed as he used the other hand to stop it from falling off.

Renault’s Esteban Ocon was seventh and ahead of Ferrari’s eighth-placed Sebastian Vettel, with their respective team-mates Daniel Ricciardo and Charles Leclerc rounding out the top ten.

Leclerc was one of the drivers who also struggled with traffic on a flyer, coming across a slow-travelling team-mate Vettel at the turn eight exit, and also went wide at turn five in the earlier stages in the session, taking an excursion through the gravel.

BWT Racing Point F1 Team’s Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll took 11th and 12th in-front of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, who lost some time in the halfway point through the session due to damage to his bodywork sustained by the bumpy outer loop part of the circuit.

Alfa Romeo Racing duo Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi were 14th and 15th respectively and ahead of McLaren’s 16th-placed Lando Norris and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen 17th.

Williams Racing pairing Nicholas Latifi and Jack Aitken (subbing in for the aforementioned Russell filling in for Hamilton) finished FP1 in 18th and at the rear respectively with Haas F1 Team’s Pietro Fittipaldi (deputising for the injured Romain Grosjean) taking 19th.

You can read the full Formula 1 Rolex Sakhir Grand Prix 2020 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1060/bahrain/practice-1.html

You can catch up on this weekend’s race preview at the link:

#Formula1 @Rolex #SakhirGrandPrix 2020 Preview. #F1 #SakhirGP