Hamilton tops FP1 in dominant display
F1 News
Lewis Hamilton tops the timetables in the first session of the Turkish GP weekend as his championship rival Max Verstappen sat just behind him in second. Last years winner was over 0.4 seconds ahead of his rival to put in a dominant display and show his capabilities for this weekend.
After two weeks since our last race out in Russia the championship standing seperated Hamilton and Max by just two points and whilst Mercedes came out on top in Sochi how would the start to the Turkish GP weekend get underway?
With the cars heading out on to the track there was an element of the unknown as the teams had little chance to get any dry running in lasts years race, but early on there was a wave on radio messages with postive messages.
How it unfolded
From the get go, Mercedes set the early pace. Hamilton from the outset topped the timetables as he was the first driver to head into the low 1:24's. With a new internal combustion unit in the back of his car there looked little in the way of competion to match the championship leader.
Before every weekend there is always a cloud of uncertainty surrounding how Alpine may perform but both Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso looked in fine form to state the French teams intentions.
Red Bull will hope that they can re find their winning form this weekend but the start of FP1 was certainly not where they wanted to be. Despite Verstappen setting decent early pace they were still over second off of Hamilton in P5. As the session went on however Max began to find some form, which could not be said for his teamate.
Perez has struggled at times this season to find consistency and performance throughtout his first seson with the Austrain team and this practise session was no different as he was over a second off his teamate in P10.
Ferrari once again looked in fine form as both they're drivers were able to put themselves into the top 5 with Sainz sporting a anew and improved engine package in the back of his car.
Additionally they will be glas to see their main rivals McLaren not at the their best as Lando sat in P7 and Ricciardo all the way down in 12th. After the high of the Monza and Sochi will this weekend bring them back down to earth?