Imola, Italy
The pilots Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton they succeeded Mercedes the first two positions in the first free practice of the Grand Prix of the Emilia Romagna from Formula oneMeanwhile the Mexican Sergio “Checo” Pérez by Red Bull had to drop out due to a crash with Esteban Ocon, which ended in a red flag.
With a time of 1: 16.564, Valtteri Bottas settled at the top of the standings, with a margin of 41 thousandths on his teammate and World Cup leader, Lewis Hamilton.
Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull) came in third, 0.058 seconds behind Bottas.
The Monegask Charles Leclerc, the French Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and his countryman Fernando Alonso (Alpine) were split fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively in a session characterized by two incidents.
Clash of Checo and Ocon
With 22 minutes to go, Free Training 1 was temporarily interrupted after an accident involving the Frenchman. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and the Mexican Sergio Perez (Red Bull).
With the clock already at zero, the Russian left the track. Nikita MazepinThe Haas driver hit the wall after stepping on the clay at the entrance to the pit lane.