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
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1:48.962s
11
2
Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull
1:49.719s
+ 0.757s
12
3
Fernando Alonso
McLaren
1:50.597s
+ 1.635s
6
4
Kimi Räikkönen
Ferrari
1:50.734s
+ 1.772s
12
5
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
1:51.009s
+ 2.047s
12
6
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:51.518s
+ 2.556s
8
7
Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes
1:52.007s
+ 3.045s
10
8
Lance Stroll
Williams
1:52.295s
+ 3.333s
9
9
Pierre Gasly
Toro Rosso
1:52.380s
+ 3.418s
14
10
Sergey Sirotkin
Renault
1:53.521s
+ 4.559s
10
11
Jolyon Palmer
Renault
1:53.625s
+ 4.663s
10
12
Stoffel Vandoorne
McLaren
1:53.771s
+ 4.809s
10
13
Esteban Ocon
Force India
1:53.896s
+ 4.934s
6
14
Sean Gelael
Toro Rosso
1:54.610s
+ 5.648s
13
15
Sergio Pérez
Force India
1:54.669s
+ 5.707s
4
16
Charles Leclerc
Sauber
1:55.280s
+ 6.318s
10
17
Pascal Wehrlein
Sauber
1:55.652s
+ 6.690s
10
18
Romain Grosjean
Haas
1:56.211s
+ 7.249s
8
19
Antonio Giovinazzi
Haas
1:56.339s
+ 7.377s
6
20
Felipe Massa
Williams
3
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.
- China secures its F1 future with new three-year deal
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.
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Click Here: Cheap Chiefs Rugby Jersey 2019