Malaysia FP1: Verstappen heads a Red Bull 1-2

© XPB 

Max Verstappen headed a Red Bull Racing 1-2 in Malaysia's shortened opening free practice session which was conducted on a wet to dry track.


Malaysian Grand Prix - Free Practice 1 results

PosDriverTeamTimeGapLaps
1Max VerstappenRed Bull1:48.962s11
2Daniel RicciardoRed Bull1:49.719s+ 0.757s12
3Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1:50.597s+ 1.635s6
4Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:50.734s+ 1.772s12
5Sebastian VettelFerrari1:51.009s+ 2.047s12
6Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:51.518s+ 2.556s8
7Valtteri BottasMercedes1:52.007s+ 3.045s10
8Lance StrollWilliams1:52.295s+ 3.333s9
9Pierre GaslyToro Rosso1:52.380s+ 3.418s14
10Sergey SirotkinRenault1:53.521s+ 4.559s10
11Jolyon PalmerRenault1:53.625s+ 4.663s10
12Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren1:53.771s+ 4.809s10
13Esteban OconForce India1:53.896s+ 4.934s6
14Sean GelaelToro Rosso1:54.610s+ 5.648s13
15Sergio PérezForce India1:54.669s+ 5.707s4
16Charles LeclercSauber1:55.280s+ 6.318s10
17Pascal WehrleinSauber1:55.652s+ 6.690s10
18Romain GrosjeanHaas1:56.211s+ 7.249s8
19Antonio GiovinazziHaas1:56.339s+ 7.377s6
20Felipe MassaWilliams3


F1 officials delayed the start of the session by 30 minutes due to persistent rain showers. Conditions eventually improved and after a few exploratory laps from the Safety Car, teams were given the green light.

Fernando Alonso was the first driver to venture out, his McLaren equipped with the 'Halo' cockpit safety device.

Red Bull Racing took their time before sending out Daniel Ricciardo. The Aussie was keen to evaluate his gearbox for any damage after an issue in Singapore almost put him out of the race.

A series of fastest sector times and an outright fastest lap quickly dissipated any fears however.

As everyone came to grips with the wet track, Sebastian Vettel locked his brakes and slid wide over the gravel, but without any damage.

The bulls, led by Verstappen, charged ahead and topped an FP session for the fourth consecutive time although one would not read much into such early form.

Verstappen clocked in with a 1:48.962, beating his team mate by 0.757s with both men taking full advantage of the efficient downforce of their RB13.

Alonso was a surprising third, pulling out a brilliant lap in the closing minutes of the session. His performance also put him nine spots and three seconds ahead of fellow McLaren team mate Stoffel Vandoorne.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Sebatsian Vettel were fourth and fifth while arch rivals Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were P6 and P7 respectively as the pair worked on set-up without extracting the most from their W08 Silver Arrows.

Among the FP1 rookie group, Pierre Gasly put in an impressive performance for his debut with Toro Rosso, keeping everything together and ending the session P9 while fellow junior bull Sean Gelael was over two seconds adrift.

Renault's Sergey Sirotkin, who was deputising for Nico Hulkenberg, was the second best debutant, clocking in P10 after completing 10 laps with just a small inconsequential mishap at Turn 2.

Charles Leclerc, Sauber's new recruit, also acquitted himself well, avoiding any costly mistakes to conclude his weekend outing P16.

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