Russian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Valtteri Bottas dominates on his favorite circuit

The first 20 minutes

The 20 single-seaters appeared on the track in Sochi under a clear sky, to remind you, the weather is not expected to be as mild for the rest of the weekend.

Current conditions in Sochi 🌥☁️#RussianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/aIg1pysTdL

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 24, 2021

After the announcement from the Haas F1 Team, there is now only one seat left to be assigned in 2022. Antonio Giovinazzi, current Alfa Romeo driver, sees his seat being challenged by F2 driver Guanyu Zhou.

After 2 Grand Prix absences, Kimi Räikkönen has taken back the wheel of his Alfa, entrusted to the Polish driver Robert Kubica during his absence. The Finn had missed the Dutch and Italian Grand Prixs because he was infected with Covid-19.

At the circuit of his first F1 victory but also his last appearance on the highest step of a podium, Valtteri Bottas immediately placed his Mercedes at the top of the timing sheet (1:36.412 / Hard tires).

After 20 minutes of driving, we found the championship leader at the top of the time standings: Max Verstappen (1:36.055) followed by Valtteri Bottas (+ 0.357) and Lewis Hamilton (+ 0.630).

At midday

After doing their first runs on hard tires, the drivers switched to the softest tires brought by Pirelli to Sochi. After 30 minutes of driving, Valtteri Bottas was the first to go under 1:35.000 with a time of 1:34.427. Lewis Hamilton was following his teammate (+ 0.211) just ahead of Charles Leclerc (+ 0.690).

Halfway through first practice 👀#RussianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/X0mJbjzSbI

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 24, 2021

Nikita Mazepin is racing at home this weekend, but in the event of a hypothetical victory or appearance on the podium in Sochi, the Moscow native does not have the right to his flag or his national anthem (decision of the World Anti-Doping Agency).

The last 20 minutes

The most recent winner and 15 minutes before the end of the session, Daniel Ricciardo was in 12th position, far behind his teammate Lando Norris. The Australian driver for McLaren will undoubtedly try to show the extent of his talent this weekend, building on the positive result from Monza.

Often considered as the best of the rest, Pierre Gasly and his AlphaTauri had a good first testing session, ranked 6th he once again proves that the hopes of the Faenza team rest on his shoulders (+1.367).

On the other hand, Sergio Perez, recently confirmed as Red Bull’s 2nd driver in 2022, failed to find the pace this morning, 9th in the rankings, far behind his Dutch teammate in 3rd place.

The pleasant surprise of the morning must be credited to Sebastian Vettel who, behind the wheel of his Aston Martin, set a nice 5th time, 1.354 seconds behind the reference time.

At the end of this session, Valtteri Bottas was the fastest with a time of 1:34.47, followed by Lewis Hamilton (+0.211) and Max Verstappen (+0.227).

The only incident worth noting was Lando Norris’ mistake when coming into the pits, with a broken front wing.

The timetable of times