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German GP FP1 | Ricciardo steals the show as Hamilton is squeezed between Red Bulls

The weekend's curtain-raiser shows an unsuspected protagonist, Ricciardo and Verstappen exploiting the RB14's quality in Hockenheim's tricky final sector to seize first and third place in the timesheets. Ferrari stand in the shadows as they wait to sharpen setups and test Ultrasoft compound this afternoon, but Soft-tyre pace gives them an early edge over rivals

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German GP FP1 | Ricciardo steals the show as Hamilton is squeezed between Red Bulls
Fuente imagen: Red Bull Racing, Mercedes-AMG F1, Haas F1 Team, Formula 1

Formula 1’s return to Hockenheim got underway this morning in a warm Free Practice 1 where two young reserve drivers enjoyed a shot at the wheel: 2016 GP2 vice-champion Antonio Giovinazzi took over from Ericsson at Sauber, while Ocon watched from inside the garage as Nicholas Latifi tested his Force India. Just out of the pits for an initial stint, the Italian had to rush back after an engine cover broke loose from his C37.

Räikkönen and Hamilton first covered the 4.57 km track in 1 minute, 15.3 seconds and 1:15.9, while Bottas was 0.1 seconds shy of Verstappen's earlier 15.05, soon equalled by Ferrari’s Finn.

Mercedes f1 2018 German GP fp1
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A 14.622 saw Ricciardo take the top of the times, Vettel following with a 14.8 as his earliest timed lap (the majority of those opening efforts were completed on Soft tyres, whereas the #3 used an Ultrasoft). It is worth reminding that the Aussie will start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid, having replaced most of his PU components for the fourth time. Also on the yellow compound, Hamilton climbed up top with a 1:14.181, still pursued by Ricciardo, Vettel and Bottas, all within 8 tenths of a second.

Forty minutes into the session, Force India led the midfield pack through Sergio Perez’s 1:15.6, one tenth clear of the Renault pair and four away from Haas.

Grosjean F1 2018 German GP Fp1
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Forty minutes to the end, Bottas went out for his first Ultrasoft stint, posting a session-best time of 1:13.9 to start with. Verstappen’s subsequent run on purple tyres resulted in a 13.7, followed by Hamilton’s 13.5 and Vettel’s 13.8. Haas had a better time with the softest compound, taking over the midfield lead about 1.3 seconds from the very top, Leclerc following within reach. Still running on Soft tyres, Vettel and Räikkönen sat in 3rd and 5th place, respectively two and seven tenths off Hamilton, refuelling going on for the next simulation.

The German GP’s first scare came 25 minutes before the end of FP1, when 10th-placed Nico Hülkenberg was seen scuttling off-track at turn 12, the gravel trap rubbing out enough of his speed to avoid the barriers.


Verstappen’s 2nd place was later inherited by his teammate, cutting Hamilton’s cushion down to 0.17 seconds, only to eventually take over that lead for a matter of milliseconds.

The final ten minutes of the session saw a glimpse of race-pace simulation where Ferrari showed signs of great promise, lapping around the 17.4-17.8s on the Soft compound, whereas they will only fit the Ultrasoft from the next session. Red Bull's purple tyres were far from their optimal usage as the RB14’s pace hovered around the 18:2s, Mercedes roaming thereabouts on the same quickest compound.

F1 2018 German GP fp1 results
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