VALTTERI BOTTAS PACE SETTER BUT PENALISED AHEAD OF BRITISH GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas fastest in practice for the British Grand Prix – Photo: LAT
Valtteri Bottas has once again set the pace in practice, this time for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The Mercedes driver topped both practice sessions, just hundredths of a second ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton, with the two maintaining a comfortable margin ahead of the rest of the field.
It wasn’t a trouble free run for Mercedes however. Bottas will suffer a five place grid penalty after qualifying because the team were forced to replace his gearbox after practice. The team suggested the issue was a similar to the one that forced Hamilton’s gearbox to be replaced in Austria last week.
Meanwhile, in FP1, Sebastian Vettel took to the track with the new Shield protective system for an out lap before quickly returning to the pits to have it removed.
Sebastian Vettel testing Shield protection system during practice – Photo: LAT
After the test Vettel wasn’t very happy with the device.
“I tried it this morning and I got a bit dizzy,” Vettel said
“The forward vision is not very good. I think it’s because of the curvature, you get quite a bit of distortion.
“There was a lot of downwash down the straight, coming off the back of my helmet and pushing my head forward.
“We had a run planned with it, but I didn’t like it, so we took it off.”
Ferrari went on to finish practice third and fourth fastest with Kimi Raikkonen slightly faster than Vettel in both sessions.
Red Bull ended practice fifth and sixth fastest with Max Verstappen getting the upper hand on Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Nico Hulkenberg impressed for Renault, setting the seventh fastest time in FP2. While Fernando Alonso’s McLaren Honda also featured in the top ten.
Formula 1 – British Grand Prix – Practice 2 Result
| Position | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m28.496s | – | 31 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m28.543s | 0.047s | 35 |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m28.828s | 0.332s | 36 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m28.956s | 0.460s | 36 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1m29.098s | 0.602s | 32 |
| 6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m29.586s | 1.090s | 35 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1m29.936s | 1.440s | 37 |
| 8 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m30.006s | 1.510s | 36 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m30.238s | 1.742s | 28 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1m30.383s | 1.887s | 42 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m30.555s | 2.059s | 26 |
| 12 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m30.562s | 2.066s | 34 |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m30.624s | 2.128s | 43 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m30.661s | 2.165s | 33 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1m30.695s | 2.199s | 37 |
| 16 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Honda | 1m30.782s | 2.286s | 31 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1m30.835s | 2.339s | 33 |
| 18 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1m30.879s | 2.383s | 25 |
| 19 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m31.616s | 3.120s | 27 |
| 20 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m31.929s | 3.433s | 30 |
Formula 1 – British Grand Prix – Practice 1 Result
| Position | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m29.106s | – | 29 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m29.184s | 0.078s | 29 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1m29.604s | 0.498s | 26 |
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m29.942s | 0.836s | 19 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m30.137s | 1.031s | 19 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m30.517s | 1.411s | 19 |
| 7 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m30.895s | 1.789s | 21 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m30.993s | 1.887s | 20 |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m30.999s | 1.893s | 26 |
| 10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Honda | 1m31.041s | 1.935s | 27 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m31.200s | 2.094s | 24 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1m31.210s | 2.104s | 32 |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m31.297s | 2.191s | 34 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m31.610s | 2.504s | 24 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1m31.684s | 2.578s | 24 |
| 16 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Haas/Ferrari | 1m32.031s | 2.925s | 24 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1m32.171s | 3.065s | 19 |
| 18 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1m32.450s | 3.344s | 16 |
| 19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m33.029s | 3.923s | 23 |
| 20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m33.399s | 4.293s | 26 |
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