within a few minutes Leclerc has had a spin, tried to do a u turn but ended up blocking traffic when he got a bit beached. He just took too much kerb and spun, lucky to avoid the barriers.
The clock will continue to tick down being practice.... just what they dont need in the only practice session of the weekend.
Edit: It seems Leclerc had his clutch overheat and was unable to select reverse hence him ending up blocking the track.
Lecleerc is back in the pits but his car isnt. Returning it might cause some issues with the limited access so Leclerc off to the worst start possible.
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
Lando was late going out due to a steering issue.... not the best start when you have a major update package to sort. Updates including a new front wing, revised front brake ducts and a new floor...
He is out on track ok now
Piastri has not got all of the updates fitted due to lack of parts. He will get them at Imola.
Sergio top of the tree atm with a 1:29.632, from Russwl Sainz Lewis ..... Max now down in 13th but he will no doubt be back on track soon and sort that out.
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
Alonso has done very few laps, and was very unhappy with the front and the rear of the car so has been in the garage having a complete new front and rear setup. Just over 15 minutes to go.
As I type he rejoins.....
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
A few starting to head out on soft rubber now.... sprint qualy is next up so I guess they all will. In fact Max has now got a set of softs on.
Track temp 52C which is pretty warm. Grip seems pretty low and a number of drivers having moments on the soft tyre including Max.
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
Chequered flag..... Max ends up fastest from the McLaren of Piastri (yes the McLaren without all the updates) Carlos Sainz 3rd fastest but a bit of a strange session. To be fair to Lando though he missed much of the session due to a misbehaving power steering which despite being worked on remained erratic all session. It is nothing related to the updates and can be finxed for Sprint qually up next.
Sargeant wasnt last or second to last.... those places filled by an unhappy Alonso and a didnt get more than a lap CLAP.
Yuki Tsunoda ended up 8th and just 0.4 behind Max.... got to say I love the look of the RB/VCARB livery on track.... very eyecatching. Tsunoda again ahead of Danny Ric who just missed the top 10.
Both Alpines in the top 10, albeit 9th and tenth. Both Mercs also, GR ahead of Lewis, but the reality is not much cover the top 10, just over half a second.
The two Haas carsjust missed the top 10, ending 12th and 13th, ahead of Albon. The two Sauber continue to lack pace and Zhou was the uickest of them, just ahead of the steering hampered McLaren of Lando Norris. Bottas a lowly 17th ahead of only Sargeant and those that suffered problems. They dont look like troubling the scorers this weekend. Bottas also having his race weekend compromised when he was given the late news that his usual race engineer, Alex Chan, his engineer since joining Sauber back when it was Alfa. Clearly it was not a move that Botts wanted and when asked, he just said ask the team, it was done without his input or contact. Again, given its a sprint weekend, its hardly good timing to get your right hand man pulled on you for an engineer you are not familiar with. Not surprising that Bottas struggled really.
Qualy up next in just under 3 hours time.. Going to be tricky for Leclerc in particular with no practice and no idea of the grip levels,. At least he has plenty of tyres at his disposal.
As a point of reference last years P1 was topped by Russell with a 1:30.125, so this year is a second and a half faster even given, due to it being the only practice session, they were having to do more P2 type stuff here with long runs thrown in as well.
P1 times.
POS NO DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:28.595 25
2 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:28.700 +0.105s 24
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:28.711 +0.116s 24
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:28.784 +0.189s 26
5 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:28.817 +0.222s 25
6 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:28.868 +0.273s 23
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:29.012 +0.417s 24
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 1:29.056 +0.461s 25
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:29.163 +0.568s 23
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:29.175 +0.580s 27
11 3 Daniel Ricciardo RB HONDA RBPT 1:29.178 +0.583s 27
12 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:29.189 +0.594s 26
13 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:29.314 +0.719s 25
14 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:29.393 +0.798s 24
15 24 Zhou Guanyu KICK SAUBER FERRARI 1:29.445 +0.850s 24
16 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:29.495 +0.900s 21
17 77 Valtteri Bottas KICK SAUBER FERRARI 1:29.636 +1.041s 23
18 2 Logan Sargeant WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:29.891 +1.296s 23
19 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:30.023 +1.428s 22
20 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:32.099 +3.504s 3
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
Just over 3 minutes to go and the drop zone is DannyRic, Bottas, Sargeant Hulk and Albon. KMag and Ocon on the cusp.
Bottas has just blocked Piastri horribly and that will have to be a penalty for Bottas who not only was just coasting but turned in on the race line oblivious of Piastri on a flyer.
