Bottas heads Hamilton in wet opening F1 practice at Silverstone
Out of only 10 drivers who posted lap times, it was Bottas who ended up quickest, posting a 1m42.249s on intermediate tyres in his Alfa Romeo in the closing minutes of the session.
The Finn edged out former Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton by 0.532s. The seven-time world champion was the first driver to gamble on slicks despite parts of the Silverstone Circuit still being soaked after rain fell throughout FP1.
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On the soft tyres, Hamilton set the fastest times in the largely dry first and final sectors but lost time in sector two, where the track was at its wettest.
Early pacesetter Carlos Sainz was third-quickest ahead of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, while Mick Schumacher put his Haas fifth in the timesheet, 1.6s down on Bottas.
F1 rookie Guanyu Zhou was sixth in the second Alfa Romeo, ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll, who caused a late red flag when he beached his Aston Martin the gravel following a spin at Copse.
Yuki Tsunoda and Sebastian Vettel were the only other drivers to post a timed lap as they completed the top 10 for AlphaTauri and Aston Martin respectively.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen was among the 10 drivers who opted against setting flying laps, with the Dutchman completing just three laps in his Red Bull to get a feel for the conditions.
