Valtteri Bottas was the fastest in the first free practice session of the British Grand Prix. EFE / EPA / CHRISTIAN BRUNA
On a British day at the most, the rain became the protagonist of the first free practice session of the Formula 1 Grand Prix of that country, in which only 10 of the 20 drivers in the highest category of world motorsport recorded a timed lap on the track. of Silverstone. With that small crew, the fastest was the Finn Valtteri Bottas.
On intermediate tires, it took the Alfa Romeo driver 1’42.249 to cover the 5,891m track in the fastest of his nine laps. The Scandinavian beat his old teammate, local Lewis Hamilton, by 532 thousandths, for whom he was squire of the Mercedes team for five seasons (between 2017 and 2021). The Englishman was the one who worked the most on the asphalt: he completed 10 laps.
The third fastest time, 718 thousandths behind Bottas, went to Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), who finished second in the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago. Behind the other Ferrari driver, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc, third in the championship; and the German Mick Schumacher (Haas).
The Chinese Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), the Danish Kevin Magnussen (Haas), the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and the German Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) were the other five drivers who completed a timed lap in a session which had to be stopped earlier than expected due to an accident involving Stroll.
In the second sector of the circuit, still wet despite the rain having stopped at that moment, the Canadian lost control of his car, which ended up stuck on the gravel at the Copse corner. Although this forced the display of red flags and the suspension of the activity, the accident did not have serious consequences for the driver or for the car.
An oversight by Canadian Lance Stroll forced the suspension of the first training session at Silverstone. (Photo: Twitter @ F1)
Red Bull, the top team of the season, chose not to take risks during this training and its two drivers, the Dutch Max Verstappen (championship leader) and the Mexican Sergio Pérez (his escort), completed only three laps. , but none of them at full capacity.
The second training for the tenth race of the year will take place from 12, while the third Saturday at 8, three hours before the classification.
Source: Clarin
