Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA

F1 Grand Prix practice results: Hamilton fastest in Turkey

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was fastest on the opening day of Turkish Grand Prix practice at Istanbul Park on Friday, the 16th round of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship season.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Hamilton was fastest in both FP1 and FP2, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc respectively.

Read Also:

Turkish Grand Prix FP1 results: Hamilton fastest from Verstappen

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 26 1'24.178 228.287
2 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 24 1'24.603 0.425 0.425 227.140
3 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 27 1'24.654 0.476 0.051 227.004
4 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 28 1'24.842 0.664 0.188 226.501
5 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 25 1'24.860 0.682 0.018 226.452
6 France Esteban Ocon
Alpine 30 1'24.909 0.731 0.049 226.322
7 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 26 1'25.347 1.169 0.438 225.160
8 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 30 1'25.382 1.204 0.035 225.068
9 Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine 26 1'25.383 1.205 0.001 225.065
10 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull 24 1'25.459 1.281 0.076 224.865
11 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams 25 1'25.685 1.507 0.226 224.272
12 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 26 1'25.750 1.572 0.065 224.102
13 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 26 1'25.810 1.632 0.060 223.945
14 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 24 1'25.813 1.635 0.003 223.938
15 Canada Nicholas Latifi
Williams 28 1'25.863 1.685 0.050 223.807
16 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo 24 1'25.933 1.755 0.070 223.625
17 Canada Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 29 1'26.361 2.183 0.428 222.517
18 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 28 1'26.424 2.246 0.063 222.354
19 Germany Mick Schumacher
Haas 25 1'26.636 2.458 0.212 221.810
20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
Haas 28 1'27.019 2.841 0.383 220.834

What happened in Free Practice 1?

Due to his 10-place engine-change grid penalty, Hamilton focused on soft-tyre running, working his way down to 1m24.511s as the track rubbered-in. Hamilton then put on a fresh set of softs and produced 1m24.250 and then, after another spell in the pits, he set the session-best 1m24.178s. 

On his soft-tyred run, Verstappen struggled with his Red Bull’s balance – reporting “no front end” and suggested it was the tyres – and was almost half a second down on 1m24.603s. Leclerc was third, just 0.051s down on Verstappen and clearly revelling in his fresh power unit. 

Valtteri Bottas was fourth in the second Mercedes, 0.6s off his teammate’s pace, ahead of Carlos Sainz (who will also take an engine change penalty on Sunday) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine), who remarkably set his 1m24.909s on hards after blowing his soft-tyre run at Turn 9. 

McLaren’s Lando Norris was seventh from Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and Sergio Perez (Red Bull).

Read Also:

Turkish Grand Prix FP2 results: Hamilton fastest from Leclerc

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 30 1'23.804 229.306
2 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 29 1'23.970 0.166 0.166 228.853
3 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 31 1'24.214 0.410 0.244 228.190
4 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull 28 1'24.373 0.569 0.159 227.760
5 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 27 1'24.439 0.635 0.066 227.582
6 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 24 1'24.525 0.721 0.086 227.350
7 Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine 21 1'24.660 0.856 0.135 226.987
8 France Esteban Ocon
Alpine 26 1'24.672 0.868 0.012 226.955
9 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 32 1'24.756 0.952 0.084 226.730
10 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 29 1'24.796 0.992 0.040 226.623
11 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 30 1'24.882 1.078 0.086 226.394
12 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 34 1'24.903 1.099 0.021 226.338
13 Canada Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 31 1'25.020 1.216 0.117 226.026
14 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 23 1'25.060 1.256 0.040 225.920
15 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo 27 1'25.143 1.339 0.083 225.700
16 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 30 1'25.229 1.425 0.086 225.472
17 Canada Nicholas Latifi
Williams 30 1'25.307 1.503 0.078 225.266
18 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams 29 1'25.358 1.554 0.051 225.131
19 Germany Mick Schumacher
Haas 26 1'25.480 1.676 0.122 224.810
20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
Haas 25 1'25.698 1.894 0.218 224.238

What happened in Free Practice 2?

In FP2, Leclerc set the medium-tyre pace, beating Hamilton’s morning time with 1m24.102s, as Lewis complained his medium-compound fronts were “not working” – he was 0.099s slower after the first runs.

Teams switched to soft-tyre running just before half distance, with Hamilton setting the pace at 1m23.840s. Verstappen’s struggles continued and he only lapped within nine-tenths of his title rival.

Hamilton made a marginal improvement on his second lap, finding pace in the middle sector, lowering his P1 time to 1m23.804s. Leclerc had a big moment on his time attack on softs at Turn 9 but improved at his second attempt to 1m23.970s, 0.166s off Hamilton’s best.

Bottas was fourth tenths off the pace in third, ahead of Perez, Verstappen, Norris and Alonso. Ocon was eighth (but suffered an issue that prevented him from selecting first gear for his practice start at the end of the session), Gasly and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.

An understeer-plagued Gasly spun at Turn 6, while Nicholas Latifi rotated his Williams at Turn 9 early on, and again near the end, but he recovered to outpace teammate George Russell. Nikita Mazepin suffered a high-speed half-spin at Turn 8 towards the end of the session.

Read Also:

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation

Related video

Previous article F1 balance "mish-mash" caused Verstappen Turkey FP2 struggle
Next article Why Mercedes' Istanbul edge is both stronger and weaker than it seems

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA