#TuscanGP FP1 Report: @ValtteriBottas quickest ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

Valtteri Bottas topped the time-sheets in FP1 at the Tuscan GP and in-front of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

The Autodromo Internazionale Del Mugello has previously held testing sessions, but the famous Italian circuit most notably used for MotoGP, was welcomed with arms for Formula 1 on the 2020 calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Friday gave the field it’s chance to hit the track in opening practice, with Bottas setting the pace in his Mercedes.

After sitting in fourth place during his initial run on the C2 yellow side-walled mediums, Bottas went fastest of all after swapping to the softer compounds.

The Finn’s 1:17.879 broke the new track lap record at Mugello for a Formula 1 car, breaking Rubens Barrichello’s previous benchmark of a 1:18.704 set in his Ferrari F2004 racer back in 2004.

It gave Bottas a 0.048 gap from Verstappen, who set the early stint on the C1 harder tyres for Red Bull.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc gave the team a promising start to the weekend as the Maranello-marque celebrates it’s 1000th Grand Prix taking third, and was 0.307 adrift of Bottas’ Tuscan GP FP1 benchmark.

Leclerc’s SF1000 racer was running a new chassis this weekend after suffering a heavy crash in at Monza last Sunday, as well as having a classic livery based on the 125S as part of the team’s festivities at Mugello.

Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel continued his struggle, ending up 1.388 seconds off of Bottas’ Tuscan GP FP1 benchmark time in 13th place after reporting in the early stages that his tyres were overheating.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton took fourth place and 0.530 seconds adrift of FP1 time-topping team-mate Bottas.

After taking a shock maiden victory at the Italian Grand Prix last weekend, Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the top five and two spots in-front of team-mate Daniil Kvyat.

Renault’s Esteban Ocon was sixth and ahead of Kvyat and McLaren’s Lando Norris who was eighth.

The second Red Bull of Alexander Albon was ninth and in-front of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo who completed the top ten.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen finished FP1 outside the top ten in 11th place and ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean who was 12th, the aforementioned Vettel and team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi.

Grosjean almost had a tangle with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez at the first corner at the halfway point of the 90 minute session, with both drivers furious at each other over the radio, though they did not suffer a collision.

The other McLaren of Carlos Sainz was 15th and in-front of Williams Racing’s George Russell who finished opening practice in 16th and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who ended 17th.

BWT Racing Point F1 Team’s Lance Stroll and Perez were 18th and 19th respectively as the Silverstone-based squad had a quiet opening session.

Stroll missed the first part of FP1 whilst the team fixed some issues on his RP20 racer, but got the Canadian out in time to complete 23 laps.

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi brought up the rear and suffered a late spin at turn three.

You can see the full Formula 1 Tuscan Grand Prix Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2020/races/1053/italy/practice-1.html

#F1 Pirelli #TuscanGP #Ferrari1000 2020 Race Preview. @F1 @MugelloCircuit