© Edited by Sport Content
Valtteri Bottas, who signed a one-year follow-up deal with Mercedes on Thursday, was the busiest driver in the British GP’s first free practice in the heat of Silverstone.
Bottas pushed the readings for the base time of the training to 1.26,166, by which he defeated his teammate Lewis Hamilton by 0.138 seconds. Hamilton, who celebrated the victory at Silverstone last Sunday, has a 30-point advantage over Bottas after four races.
Mercedes was once again completely in a class of its own in an exercise where the track temperature met 40 degrees.
Red Bull team Max Verstappen, who finished third, was already 0.727 seconds behind Bottas.
One of the absolutely toughest performances of the session was given by Nico Hülkenberg, who continues his gig at the Racing Point team, driving a magnificent fourth in 0.776 seconds from the bottom.
Hülkenberg, who succeeded Sergio Perez, who was infected with the coronavirus, was able to keep Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc behind with just over a tenth.
The pain of Alfa Romao continues. Kimi Räikkönen was 18th in Friday’s first practice. He had to admit Bottas to 2,489 seconds faster.
Räikkönen’s teammate Antonio Giovinazzi followed the first training from the depot side and will return to real action on Friday as a second practice.
Alfa’s reserve driver Robert Kubica drove alongside Räikkönen in the opening practice. Kubica was 19th three-tenths slower than Räikko.
Valtteri Bottas loaded the bottom time – Kimi Räikkönen was pained far from the tip