Bottas fastest in Sochi F1

Bottas was fastest in both FP1 and FP2 and twice beat his reigning Mercedes world champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton on a track where he always excelled.

Results of the Russian Grand Prix FP1: Botta’s fastest from Hamilton

What happened in Free Practice 1?

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the benchmark best time on soft compound tires shortly before half-time with 1: 35.616 minutes.

Hamilton came within 0.211s of Bottas on his first flying lap on the softs. Verstappen drove again towards the end with fresh softs and reduced his time to 1: 34.654 minutes by setting the fastest middle sector, just 0.016 seconds slower than Hamilton overall.

Charles Leclerc was the best of the others for Ferrari, 0.690 seconds behind, ahead of Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Lando Norris (McLaren). Norris suffered a bizarre incident when he half-spun as he returned to the box.

Sergio Perez was ninth in the second Red Bull, Fernando Alonsos Alpine completed the top 10.

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Results of the Russian Grand Prix FP2: Bottas fastest from Hamilton

What happened in Free Practice 2?

In FP2, Leclerc set the initial pace with soft tires and exceeded his morning time with 1: 34.925 minutes, while the front runners drove on medium laps from the start. Alonso topped his fastest lap with 1: 34.762 minutes after 15 minutes.

Hamilton mowed down his front jack during a pit stop while training, apologized and admitted his ‘Brake Magic’ button – which puts almost all of the brake preload on the front wheels – was accidentally pressed.

Bottas drove a lap time of 1: 33.593 minutes and took over P1 one second ahead of Verstappen, who will start on Sunday after a new engine from the end of the grid and therefore probably would not drive any low-fuel runs. Hamilton then took P2, 0.044 seconds behind his teammate, while Norris moved up to third, half a second behind the Mercs.

Gasly then finished third and came within a quarter of a second to the Mercedes duo, shortly before a red flag for Antonio Giovinazzi, who turned his Alfa Romeo against the wall at Turn 9. Leclerc had previously suffered a spin there without hitting anything.

Gasly lost his front wing in the last few moments of the session after smashing him into the curb on Turn 2.

Ocon finished the session fifth fastest, ahead of Verstappen, Sainz, Alonso, Vettel, Leclerc and Perez.

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