FP1 – Verstappen in the lead ahead of Gasly – Motorsport.com, Edition: France

This is a first for Formula 1, with the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix, in the currently very specific circumstances of the right of review exercised by Mercedes concerning the incident involving Max Verstappen and Lewis hamilton in the fight for victory at the São Paulo Grand Prix. The commissioners met with representatives of the stables this Thursday evening, before adjourning the hearing until Friday morning. However, five hours later, we still have no news.

On the track, for this first free practice session, the weather was good with 28 ° C in the air and 41 ° C on the ground. The Losail International Circuit record set by Nico Hülkenberg in 1’35 “741 in GP2 in 2009, obviously did not last long. The lap times quickly dropped and Max Verstappen was the first to go below the 85 seconds mark, with a 1’24” 998 on hard tires , before improving to 1’24 “855.

At mid-session, after each driver’s first stint, Lando norris was second in mediums, almost four tenths behind Verstappen, followed by Mercedes in hards of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. The latter, displaying on his helmet the inclusive rainbow flag in support of minorities, had also deplored “a huge lack of power” on the radio. Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc, with the yellow striped gums, were the only other pilots within a second of the reference with the Alpine d ‘Esteban Ocon, in tender.

All the competitors adopted the soft tires for the second half of the session, Yuki tsunoda seizing the fastest time in 1’24 “648 before being beaten by Bottas in 1’24” 194. Verstappen, on the other hand, retaliated with a time of 1’23 “723, when Hamilton could not do better than 1’24” 509. The Briton was worried about a lack of top speed, a lack that does not exist according to his engineer. It was finally Gasly who took second place, with a breath ahead of Bottas.

Sergio Perez took sixth place ahead of Charles Leclerc, Ocon and Lando Norris, not without difficulty for the latter, who suffered a technical problem after an excursion on a curb. Hamilton may have experienced a concern with a similar cause without necessarily having the same consequence; Nikita mazepin, he saw his session interrupted prematurely, again after having switched to a vibrator. In another area, Lance Stroll returned to the stand deploring a brake-by-wire problem, before being informed of a hydraulic problem.

Driving errors were in any case rare, even if Kimi Raikkonen visited a gravel pit very briefly after attempting to slalom between the distance signs to the next turn. In the last moments, Mick schumacher simply pulled straight at turn 7, and the ferry visit this time lasted longer, with the Haas pilot still managing to extricate himself from it. The 20 athletes will continue to take their marks, this night time, during the second free practice session.

Qatar Grand Prix – Free Practice 1