Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the first practice session of the new Grand Prix of Europe, as Daniel Ricciardo crashed out at the Baku Street Circuit.
Hamilton posted a best time of 1:46.436 over the 6km circuit, the second longest on the F1 calendar after Spa-Francorchamp, to finish 0.377s ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg, with Valtteri Bottas showing well for Williams in third place.
As ever with street circuits, the weekend’s running began on a dirty, dusty surface offering low grip and Hamilton’s climb to the top of the timesheet wasn’t without cost, as the champion had a brush with the walls at Turn 3.
The Briton, however, got away with the contact, good fortune that eluded Daniel Ricciardo.
The Red Bull Racing driver ran wide at Turn 15 and hit the wall on his right hand side. The contact was heavy, with the right rear wheel of his car being ripped off against the barriers. Ricciardo’s crash led to the Australian finishing in P13, more than three seconds off the pace. It also led to a 15-minute red-flag period while his car was recovered.
The session was made more difficult for Red Bull due to problems with Max Vertsappen’s car. The Ducthman completed just seven laps across the 90s as an oil leake restricted him to the garage.
Nearer the front of the order Bottas ended the session just 0.6s adrift of Hamilton. The Finn scored third place in Canada and on this new street circuit, which features the longest straight in F1, the Williams’ facility in high-speed environments was once again revealed. Bottas was the only non-works Mercedes driver within a second of the defending champion.
Fourth place in the session went to McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, a surprise result given the team’s conservative expectations for this power-sensitive circuit. Alonso finished the session with a time of 1:47.989 to sit 1.5s adrift of Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel was fifth for Ferrari ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez, the second McLaren on Jenson Button and Williams Felipe Massa rounded out the top eight. Ninth place went to Carlos Sainz, who also made slight contact with the barriers at Turn 15, with Nico Hulkenberg 10th for Force India.
2016 Grand Prix of Europe – Free Practice 1
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:46.435 232 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:46.812 323 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:47.096 344 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:47.989 215 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:48.627 266 Sergio Perez Force India 1:48.922 177 Jenson Button McLaren 1:49.019 218 Felipe Massa Williams 1:49.125 229 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:49.267 1610 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:49.301 2711 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:49.611 2012 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:49.635 1613 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:49.778 1714 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:50.167 2515 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:50.473 1816 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:50.485 717 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:51.551 1918 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:50.910 2519 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:50.939 2720 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:51.219 2421 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:51.771 1122 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:51.925 28
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