FP1: Bottas fastest as Perez and Ocon clash

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrariit

Sunny skies greeted the Formula One circus at Imola as teams and drivers started their on-track preparations for this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas made the most of it and ended the session on top.

Though the Finn emerged on top of the timing sheets, his competition wasn't far off. Team mate Lewis Hamilton ended up just 0.041s slower, closely followed by Red Bull's Max Verstappen at 0.058s.

The session was highlighted by a red flag, caused by a coming together of Alpine's Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull RB16B. The two came together, sending Perez into a spin due to a rear puncture caused by the accident at the Villeneuve chicane. Esteban Ocon parked his car a bit earlier and had it craned away before the session could get started again, 8 minutes later.

Behind the leading three, Charles Leclerc again shows promising pace for Ferrari in 4th, topping the AlhpaTauri of Pierre Gasly and the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.

2005 San Marino Grand Prix winner Fernando Alonso ended up 7th despite spending most of the session completing aero runs as Alpine were validating an updated aerodynamic package on their A521.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll was 8th fastest, followed by Latifi in 9th for Williams and Daniel Ricciardo completed the top 10.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
177Valtteri BottasMercedes1:16.564-23
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:16.605+0.041s25
333Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Honda1:16.622+0.058s21
416Charles LeclercFerrari1:16.796+0.232s13
510Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri Honda1:16.888+0.324s21
655Carlos SainzFerrari1:16.888+0.324s26
714Fernando AlonsoAlpine Renault1:17.457+0.893s23
818Lance StrollAston Martin Mercedes1:17.489+0.925s19
96Nicholas LatifiWilliams Mercedes1:17.739+1.175s24
103Daniel RicciardoMcLaren Mercedes1:17.769+1.205s23
1163George RussellWilliams Mercedes1:17.866+1.302s25
127Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing Ferrari1:17.883+1.319s16
134Lando NorrisMcLaren Mercedes1:17.935+1.371s16
145Sebastian VettelAston Martin Mercedes1:17.984+1.420s23
1599Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo Racing Ferrari1:18.058+1.494s24
1611Sergio PerezRed Bull Racing Honda1:18.228+1.664s15
1731Esteban OconAlpine Renault1:18.360+1.796s20
189Nikita MazepinHaas Ferrari1:18.823+2.259s22
1947Mick SchumacherHaas Ferrari1:19.480+2.916s18
2022Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri Honda1:19.781+3.217s11