Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas continued his recent fine form by clocking the quickest time during the opening practice session for the British Grand Prix on Friday morning.
Bottas logged a time of 1:29.106 on new Soft tyres to finish 0.078s clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, whose best lap came on used Softs, at a cool and cloudy Silverstone.
Both Mercedes drivers lapped quicker than the time set by Hamilton to take pole position for last year’s event.
Red Bull emerged as Mercedes’ primary opponents, with Max Verstappen 0.498s down on Bottas, running the Super Soft tyres to take third place.
Daniel Ricciardo was fourth, over three-tenths behind the Dutchman, while Ferrari took fifth and sixth, a second down on Bottas, with Kimi Räikkönen ahead of Sebastian Vettel, the trio all lapping on the red-banded compounds.
Vettel gave Formula 1’s ‘shield’ – the proposed head protection device – its on track debut during the opening minutes of running, completing an installation lap with the canopy affixed to his SF70-H.
The device was subsequently removed from the car, and he completed his run plan as usual, via a half-spin through the second Becketts segment.
Daniil Kvyat spearheaded the midfield charge for Toro Rosso, 1.7s down on Bottas, with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne a promising eighth and 10th for McLaren.
The McLaren pair sandwiched Williams’ Felipe Massa, who lost parts of his FW40 after running wide over the new double exit kerb at Copse early in the session, and was the only non-Mercedes driver in the top 10 whose best time came on Softs.
Carlos Sainz Jr.’s car was cleared for competition after Toro Rosso entered his STR12 with faulty wheel tether tape – the problem was corrected and the team was absolved of wrongdoing by the FIA – and he placed 11th.
Esteban Ocon and Sergio Pérez were next up for Force India, ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Williams rookie Lance Stroll, who went off at Becketts late on.
Antonio Giovinazzi returned to Formula 1 action for the first time in several months as he replaced Kevin Magnussen for the first of seven planned FP1 runs with Haas.
Giovinazzi, who competed in the opening two races with Sauber, wound up 16th quickest, completing 24 laps in the Haas VF-17.
Renault was a low-key 17th and 18th, Nico Hülkenberg ahead of Jolyon Palmer, while Sauber’s miserable form showed no sign of abating, as Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson finished at the foot of the table yet again.
