Marko Hanželic
The first free workout for GP of Russia the racers (and everyone else who follows Formula 1) arrived in beautiful sunny weather, at an asphalt temperature of 24,6 and an atmospheric temperature of 26,9 degrees Celsius.
For the home race, the local matador came up with a special helmet design Daniil Kvyat, with the team Alpha Tauri and sister Red Bullu however, they decided to replace the drive unit. He got it at the "red bulls" this time Max Verstappen, at Honda, however, point out that the decision is not due to the problems that Verstappen had in Mugello.
Pri McLarn they started the first free practice with a new nose design of the car, and the orange team also took care of the first noteworthy scene on FP1. Carlos Sainz he spun in the seventh turn and collided with his butt in safety fence. Fortunately, the Spaniard and his car took her away without major consequences. Sainz he even managed to get the damaged car to the pits, but the rear wings will definitely need to be replaced.
Shortly after Sainz's trip, a racer suffered a similar fate Williams, Nicholas Latifi, who lost control of the car in the tenth turn and also crashed into a safety fence. As the excursion zone at this place is very short, the training was interrupted.
Bottas he set the fastest training time relatively quickly, 1: 34,923 minutes, followed by him Ricciardo, Verstappen, Perez in Stroll. Hamilton he drove the training on a hard tire compound and ended up landing only in 19th place. This shows how little sense the times of the first free practice actually make. Nevertheless, we can say that victory will be in Russia most likely remained in Mercedes hands as it is Bottas still more than half a second ahead of the rest of the world. By the way, Hag in Leclerc they landed in ninth and eleventh place, respectively.
It is first free practice in Sochi took care of an unusually large number of rotations, as after Sainz in Latifi before the end of the workout spun again Grosjean, but fortunately he did not crash into the security fence. It is said to be quite windy in certain parts of the track, which could be the explanation for a number of slips.
