#StyrianGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen tops session ahead of @PierreGASLY. #F1

Red Bull’s Verstappen topped the opening FP1 session at the Styrian GP ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen ended up 0.256 seconds clear of Gasly and 0.422 seconds ahead of championship rival Hamilton, but the trio could have been beaten by the other Silver Arrow of Valtteri Bottas had the Finn not ran wide through the last corner when set to jump the Red Bull at the top of the times during the qualifying simulation runs in opening practice at the Red Bull Ring.

McLaren’s Lando Norris posted the benchmark of a 1:08.864 in the early proceedings on the C4 yellow side-walled medium compounds, which was rapidly pushed down as a series of flyers came in all on the medium rubber.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set a 1:08.011 before Hamilton put the best effort lower than the 1:08 bracket with a 1:07.809, as the drivers continued to find time each moment they went longer in their stints.

A minute after Hamilton’s time was set, Verstappen done a 1:07.454, which his fellow title-contender ousted the next time by with a 1:07.056.

Running behind the black-liveried W12, Verstappen immediately snatched P1 with a 1:06.936.

Verstappen gradually brought the quickest effort lower in his stint on the medium tyre down to 1:06.511 near the end of the opening 20 minutes – after losing a slower time, which briefly stood as then the session best until being invalidated for running too wide at the last corner, which was an area several drivers lost their lap-times.

Mercedes lead the field out in FP1’s second half on the C4 red-marked softer compounds at the start of the mid-way point, with Hamilton reclaiming top of the time-sheets with a 1:06.390.

Bottas then jumped up from the rear order at the end of the medium tyre stints, going fastest on a 1:06.386 – his second tour on the softs, with 25 minutes completed.

Hamilton then moved ahead of his Mercedes team-mate posting a 1:06.332, which stood as his best effort until the end of FP1, despite his F1 W12 racer clouting the large kerbs beyond the normal red and white kerbs exiting turn nine (Hamilton’s effort was legal because his right-side wheels remained on the normal kerbs), which produced a huge cloud of dust as the F1 W12’s plank hit the larger kerbs and rubbed along it.

Red Bull then sent it’s drivers out after the half-way point in the session, but the time they were aiming for was AlphaTauri’s Gasly of a 1:06.116 – the Frenchman having been amongst the leaders in the earlier proceedings.

Verstappen reclaimed first place on his initial hot-lap on the softs, a 1:05.910, which remained as the session’s best time for the entirety of opening practice as the teams switched to long run data gathering for the final 20 minutes.

Running behind time-topper Verstappen, Bottas was on another flyer on the softer compounds and he posted the session’s quickest efforts in the opening two sectors.

But the Finn ran too wide at the final corner and lost over 0.2 seconds to Verstappen, with his time being invalidated for a track limit infringement at that point.

Bottas thus stayed in fourth, with the Mercedes driver running close to several other drivers towards the session’s end in the longer running, with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi (was ended FP1 in ninth) asking why the Mercedes was pulling across on the long run up the hill to the third corner in the final stages.

The other Honda-powered AT02 of Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top five and backing up AlphaTauri’s strong start to the weekend, the Japanese driver finishing in-front of Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso – who lost several efforts by running wide through the final corners on the medium and softer rubber – and Esteban Ocon in the second Renault-powered A521 racer.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was eighth quickest and ahead of the aforementioned Giovinazzi, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completing the top ten.

The Prancing Horse duo both encountered moments at turn one, with Leclerc saving a big snap of oversteer after climbing over the large yellow kerb in the run-off area on the exit in the early proceedings, whilst team-mate Carlos Sainz ended his effort in 11th on the mediums just before the 30th minute mark and suffering a spin.

The Spaniard lost the rear of his SF21 racer as he got onto the big yellow kerb at the first corner exit and his car looped around to the left and spun to the inside of the circuit – briefly blocking the pit-exit, which forced Bottas to stop and wait for the Ferrari to turn the right way as he was leaving pit-lane when Sainz spun in-front.

Sainz was 11th on the time-sheets, ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in 12th and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez taking 13th place and was a further 0.786 seconds adrift of team-mate Verstappen’s Styrian GP FP1 benchmark.

The other Aston AMR21 of Sebastian Vettel placed 14th and in-front of Williams Racing’s duo who George Russell and Nicholas Latifi who were 15th and 17th respectively, with the McLaren of Norris splitting the pairing in 16th.

Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin finished the session in 18th and at the rear respectively with Alfa Romeo Racing reserve Robert Kubica (filling in for regular Kimi Raikkonen) taking 19th in the other C41.

You can read the full Formula 1 VTB Grosser Preis Der Steiermark 2021 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1092/austria/practice-1.html

F1 Breaking News: Turkish GP replaces Singapore GP October 1-3

Formula 1 have announced that the Turkish Grand Prix will be returning to the calendar this season, with the race at Intercity Istanbul Park set to take place on October 1-3, the weekend, which was originally set the host the Singapore Grand Prix.

Following the news that the Singapore GP will not go ahead, F1 will instead race at Istanbul Park – the circuit where Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton wrapped up his seventh World Driver’s Championship last season.

Earlier this season, the Turkish Grand Prix was removed from the Formula 1 calendar due to international travel restrictions, but at the time the race promoter requested to join the championship calendar at the rear-end of the season if it was possible.

A statement from Formula 1 read:

“After discussions with other promoters we are confident that we will be able to travel to the following race under our strict safety protocols. The Formula 1 community will continue to travel this season with stringent safety measures that has allowed us to travel safely this season. So far this season we have conducted over 44,000 tests with 27, positive cases a rate of 0.06%, with most coming during the earlier part of the season. Alongside this a significant proportion of the F1 community has been vaccinated already and we are confident that all will have had the opportunity to do so by the end of the summer. We will continue to operate in a way that protects the safety of our personnel and the communities we visit.”

#Formula1 BWT #StyrianGP 2021 Race Preview. #F1