BEVERLY HILLS, April 16, (THEWILL) – Formula One Finnish racing driver, Valtteri Bottas, of the Mercedes AMG F1 team, got his Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend at Imola off to the best start, by taking the lead of Free Practice 1 (FP1) from his team mate Sir Lewis Hamilton.
However, the race was not without drama as an incident between Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon brought out a red flag and curtailed the drivers’ running –with Haas’ Nikita Mazepin bringing out a second one at end of the day’s session.
The best time of the hour-long FP1 session belonged to Bottas, who finished with a time of 1m 16.564s. It was only two seconds slower than the best overall practice time from 2020. Just behind Bottas was mate Hamilton, finishing just 0.041s and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen 0.058s behind.
In the dramatic bit, which occurred only 20 minutes from the end, the race cameras picked up a shot of Perez’s spinning out of control Red Bull RB16B. The Mexican’s car seemed to have suffered a puncture as a result of contact with Ocon’s Alpine at the Villeneuve chicane, which also pulled up trackside and had to be craned away from the lane.
The collision resulted in a red flag, which later to be followed by the standard post-session stewards’ inquiry. But, the flag left the majority of drivers rushing to complete their quick runs when the session was restarted with 12 minutes to go of the session.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc came up behind the two Mercedes racers and Red Bull’s Verstappen but ahead of the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly in fifth, who was impressive in his overall race as he was in 2020. Leclerc’s team mate Carlos Sainz was sixth while the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix winner Fernando Alonso came in 7th for the Alpine team.
Also included in the top 10 were Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in eighth, William’s Nicholas Latifi overcame an off-track moment at Rivazza 1 to take an impressive ninth with Daniel Ricciardo the leading McLaren in 10th.
The end numbers may have turned out differently if Haas driver Mazepin did not suffer a second spin of the morning after the chequered flag had initially been flown. This, added to another delay due to a crash on the exit of Rivazza 2, which necessitated another red flag, hurt a number of drivers’ final race times.
As a consequence of the delays, the second Williams of George Russell finished 11th, ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren’s Lando Norris and the second Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel in 14th.
There was also a 15th placed finish for home hero Antonio Giovinazzi. Behind him were the two colliders Perez and Ocon – with Mazepin slotting into 18th. He still managed to arrive before team mate Mick Schumacher. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the order, the Japanese driver having overcome an off-track moment at Tamburello early on in the session that affected his time.
Mercedes has pulled ahead from the practice but everyone is expecting to see the Red Bull fight back when Free Practice 2 (FP2) gets under way at 1430 local time.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
