Max fourth in Sochi FP1
Published on 28 April 2017 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen opened his Russian Grand Prix weekend with P4 in the first free practice session. The two Finnish F1 drivers Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) were first and second. The Ferrari driver was fastest. Lewis Hamilton completed the top three.
The session starts in ideal conditions for the drivers and their teams; sunny and 19 degrees. Sergey Sirotkin is the first driver out on track. The Renault F1 test driver occupies Nico Hulkenberg’s seat for FP1 only.
However, Sirotkin is not able to make the most of the session in front of his home crowd. In only his second lap, his Renault stops in sector 1. Despite several instructions from the team, the young Russian is not able to get the car back to the pits.
In general, FP1 is relatively quiet with not much on-track action. It is not until the final half an hour that we see most cars on track.
In that final third, Max heads out on the super-soft Pirellis. The Dutchman sets a fifth fastest time before needing to abort his next lap: Esteban Ocon’s Force India lost its engine cover, prompting a red flag. On Max’ in-lap, the youngster informs the team about an odd noise he hears when going into fourth gear. “It doesn’t sound great”.
Nevertheless, Max is able to continue in the session. With less than fifteen minutes to go, he has dropped to seventh. However, another flying lap on the super-softs, pushes the Red Bull Racing ace to fourth despite struggling to get the tyres in the right temperature window.
In the closing stages, we see a familiar sight; Mclaren struggling. Stoffel Vandoorne informs the team “no power” before parking the car in the pits.
At the front, Raikkonen and Bottas have no issues, cementing Ferrari’s and Mercedes position at the top of the leaderboards.
Russian Grand Prix - Sochi Autodrom - Friday 28 April
FREE PRACTICE 1 RESULTS 01 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:36.074 19 02 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:36.119 +0.045s 24 03 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:36.681 +0.607s 23 04 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:37.174 +1.100s 19 05 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:37.230 +1.156s 19 06 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:37.290 +1.216s 19 07 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:37.457 +1.383s 29 08 19 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:37.900 +1.826s 29 09 18 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:37.944 +1.870s 30 10 31 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:38.065 +1.991s 28 11 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:38.496 +2.422s 17 12 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:38.747 +2.673s 23 13 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:38.813 +2.739s 16 14 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:38.976 +2.902s 17 15 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:39.158 +3.084s 16 16 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:39.533 +3.459s 17 17 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1:39.541 +3.467s 19 18 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 1:39.731 +3.657s 21 19 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:40.079 +4.005s 20 20 46 Sergey Sirotkin Renault 2
