Russell tops wet FP1 as Perez shunts upgraded Red Bull on first lap
Opening practice was just minutes old when, on his first lap, Perez dropped a wheel onto the grass and spun into the Turn 5 barriers, causing substantial damage to his upgraded RB19 and giving his mechanics a busy couple of hours to fix the car ahead of FP2.
It was the worst possible start to the weekend for Perez, who is desperately seeking to turn around his recent torrid form.
The under-pressure Mexican finds himself further in the spotlight this weekend given Daniel Ricciardo is back on the F1 grid with AlphaTauri and targeting Perez’s seat at Red Bull.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted Perez’s crash was “frustrating” for the team.
Carlos Sainz also crashed when he spun his Ferrari at Turn 3 and rear-ended the barriers, causing the second red flag of the session. Unlike Perez, Sainz was able to rejoin the session after an army of marshals came to his aid.
Russell ended up at the top of the timesheets after exchanging fastest laps with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in the closing minutes.
The Briton was 0.359s clear of Piastri, with Lance Stroll over a second off the pace in third for Aston Martin.
Lando Norris took fourth ahead of Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc and Zhou Guanyu.
Logan Sargeant was ninth as Nico Hulkenberg headed Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen in 10th.
Lewis Hamilton, world champion Max Verstappen and the returning Ricciardo were among seven drivers who did not set a lap time.
