Bottas leads Hamilton and Verstappen at the opening of the Sochi Autodrom free practice session

Valtteri Bottas crowned the first free practice of the Russian Grand Prix Weekend on Friday when the Finn comes out Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team Teammate Lewis Hamilton by two tenths of a second.

The twenty pilots went to the opening race of the weekend under a blue sky Autodrome in Sochi, that includes Kimi Raikkonen after the absence of the Finn, two races after a positive COVID-19 test during the Grand Prix of Holland Weekend.

Bottas, who will leave Mercedes at the end of the season, took first place early on on the tough mix Pirelli Tires and then improved significantly on the soft, with his best time of 1: 34.427 leaving Hamilton behind by 0.211 seconds and Red Bull Racing‘S Max Verstappen by 0.227 seconds.

Charles Leclerc, who had to take a starting penalty on Sunday after changing the engine, was with the Scuderia Ferrari Driver fourth, 0.690 seconds back.

Sebastian Vettel is encouraged by the performance of his Aston Martin Cognizant Formula 1 team Machine in fifth, just ahead Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda‘S Pierre Gasly, while Carlos Sainz Jr. finished seventh in the second Ferrari.

Lando Norris finished eighth, but he had an eventful end to the session with that McLaren F1 team Driver spun as he slowly drove back into the pit lane on the penultimate corner. It found that his rear wheels locked up causing him to skid, damaging his front wing.

Sergio Perez was 1.761 seconds behind the pace in the second Red Bull, with the Mexican just ninth fastest while Fernando Alonso has repressed his Alpine F1 team Teammate Esteban Ocon to complete the top ten.

Lance walk was twelfth in the second Aston Martin, just ahead of the leader Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN from Antonio Giovinazzi. Giovinazzi had one moment in turn two where he was locked up and ran through the makeshift chicane, while another moment at the end of the session, at the end of the back straight, suffered a major suspension.

Italian Grand Prix Race winner Daniel Ricciardo was only fourteenth in the second McLaren, just ahead of the returning Raikkonen, while the second AlphaTauri from Yuki Tsunoda finished sixteenth, the Japanese racing driver had to pass the makeshift chicane in turn two after an overflow.

The field was completed by the two Williams races Machines from George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, and the two Uralkali Haas F1 Team Driver of Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher.

Sochi Autodrom Free Practice 1 result