Valtteri Bottas led the first free practice of the American F1 Grand Prix in Austin.
The Finn, who takes advantage of the use of his sixth internal combustion engine – who will deserve a five-position penalty on the grid -, took first place in the morning session this Friday with 18 minutes to go.
His record of 1m34.875s, made with the soft tire, allowed him to be 45 thousandths ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton, thus completing a 1-2 for Mercedes, which at the moment looks superior to Red Bull Racing.
Max Verstappen was placed in third position with a deficit of 0.932s, The Ferrari duo, with Charles Leclerc ahead of Carlos Sainz I, completed the top five positions.
Sergio perez He finished in seventh place, setting his time on the hard tire from the start of activities and focusing on the competition set-up. The Mexican completed 20 laps.
The session had eventualities: just when the activity started, Fernando Alonso he stopped in an escape zone at Turn 12 due to a mechanical problem in his Alpine, thus generating a red flag that lasted for about ten minutes.
Fortunately for the Spaniard, the track officials quickly returned the car to the pit area, so it returned to the track with 18 minutes remaining on the clock.
Likewise, Leclerc, Nikita Mazepin y Kimi Raikkönen spun without consequences, while Pérez and Mick Schumacher they made a contact at the end of the back straight, without both suffering damage at first sight. 24 laps were canceled for exceeding track limits, half at COTA Turn 9 and the other half at 19).
It should be noted that the members of Alfa Romeo were located in ninth and tenth places, with Antonio Giovinazzi in front of Raikkönen, George Russell (who will penalize for engine change) and Esteban Ocon, who completed the most laps (22).
1-2 FROM MERCEDES.@ValtteriBottas was the fastest of the PL1 of the #GPEstadosUnidos # F1 While @ MercedesAMGF1 He has a head start over Red Bull.
Here, the results of the Friday morning session.pic.twitter.com/suh8b3YPzv
— FASTmag (@Fastmagmx) October 22, 2021
–
