Verstappen ninth in shortened first free practice
Published on 09 October 2015 by Mike Motilall
Due to an error, made by the organization of the Russian Grand Prix, the first free practice saw little action as not many a driver ventured out. As a result of oil on the track in the second and third sector of the Sochi Autodrom, the circuit was too slippery to be driven. Only around twenty minutes before the end of the session, drivers started heading out on track for a timed lap. Max Verstappen noted, in difficult conditions, the ninth best time. It was eventually Nico Hulkenberg, in his Force India, who was the fastest.
As the clock counts down to ten o’clock, local time, there is a lot of action on track. The fire department is working all out to get rid of the vast amount of oil off the track. This was leaked by a car of the Russian organization at seven o’clock already this morning. It remained unnoticed until the session was about to get on its way. The pit lane remains closed and the entire session is shortened by half an hour. Also, the extra set of tyres, that the drivers normally use in the first half hour, needs to be returned, unused.
Having been idle for half an hour, it’s Marcus Ericsson who is the first to venture out for an installation lap on the intermediates. The entire field follows quickly, but everyone is very cautious. “What a mess”, says Sebastian Vettel on the radio during his lap. Both Williams’ even get on track on the full wets, but nobody gets a time on the board.
Fernando Alonso is the first driver to put the pedal to the metal and clocks a: 2:00.736. Nevertheless, he still drives cautiously on the slippery parts of the track. As a comparison: the fastest time set in the first free practice last year, was a 1:42.311. In his next lap, he takes off 4.4 seconds.
Numerous drivers head out for a ‘fast’ lap, and with still fifteen minutes left, Max also heads out for a timed lap. By no means the fastest ever, but for today, he is the fastest with a 1:50.870. But it doesn’t take long before Alonso and the rest, outpace him. With more cars on the circuit, the track is getting dryer and dryer. And every lap driven is a personal best for the drivers. For a brief moment rain was expected, but was nothing more than a few drops. Max concludes his run with a 1:46.203, as his fastest, and good enough for ninth on the leaderboard.
Sochi - Russian Grand Prix – Friday 9 October
RESULTS FREE PRACTICE 1 P No Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:44.355 11 2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:44.407 +0.052s 15 3 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:44.986 +0.631s 15 4 11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:45.146 +0.791s 11 5 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:45.233 +0.878s 10 6 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:45.488 +1.133s 13 7 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:45.691 +1.336s 10 8 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:45.746 +1.391s 13 9 33 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:46.203 +1.848s 13 10 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:46.215 +1.860s 16 11 22 Jenson Button McLaren 1:46.231 +1.876s 12 12 19 Felipe Massa Williams 1:46.333 +1.978s 12 13 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:46.747 +2.392s 13 14 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:47.443 +3.088s 16 15 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:48.006 +3.651s 9 16 26 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:48.096 +3.741s 9 17 30 Jolyon Palmer Lotus 1:49.094 +4.739s 9 18 98 Roberto Merhi Marussia 1:52.994 +8.639s 12 19 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:54.272 +9.917s 12 20 28 Will Stevens Marussia 1:58.254 +13.899s 6
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