It was Mercedes 1-2 with Alpha Tauri (Gasly) third and McLaren (Norris) fourth. Weather and penalties may figure into what happens Saturday and Sunday.
SOCHI, Russia—It is his favorite track and Valtteri Bottas was true to form in Friday practice at the Sochi Autodrom in advance of Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix. Bottas posted a 1:33:593 fastest time in the afternoon ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly. Bottas also took the morning session ahead of Hamilton, showing that the Silver Arrows may have the advantage this week.
McLaren’s Lando Norris finished the session in fourth, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon impressed everyone, finishing in fifth. Verstappen had a disappointing session, finishing in sixth. Carlos Sainz Jr. took seventh in his Ferrari, while Fernando Alonso was eighth in the second Alpine. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel took ninth with Ferarri’s Charles Leclerc finishing out in tenth.
Continuous rain is in the forecast, especially for Saturday, which complicates Sunday’s race. Also complicating the picture is that both Verstappen and Leclerc will start at the back of the grid after their respective teams made engine changes.
In mishaps this day, Norris (in the morning) and Leclerc (in the afternoon) spun but then recovered to continue. Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi was not as fortunate when he struck the barriers at turn nine, throwing debris everywhere. A red flag was issued with 23 minutes to go with practice resuming with 16 minutes left. The track remained clear of incidents until less than a minute to go when Gasly ran over a huge sausage curve at turn two and broke his front wing.
On Saturday, qualifying will be televised by ESPN2 at 8a Eastern U.S. time, preceded by Free Practice #3, which will get underway at 5a (televised on ESPNU).
