What went on in first Turkish GP F1 practice

Lewis Hamilton led the opening practice session for Formula 1’s Turkish Grand Prix by four tenths of a second over title rival Max Verstappen.

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Key moments:

> Circuit grip substantially better than in 2020

> Hamilton fastest for majority of session

> Leclerc puts Ferrari third

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Drivers immediately reported over team radio that the circuit grip level was spectacularly different to the 2020 situation at Istanbul Park, when the combination of a recent resurfacing and the weather conditions turned the track into a skating rink all weekend.

Hamilton’s final pacesetting lap of 1m24.178s on soft tyres was a full 11s quicker than the leading 2020 practice one times, and 4s clear of the very best times from last year’s race weekend.

While the championship leader was fastest, as the session began it was also confirmed that he had taken a new internal combustion engine in his Mercedes this weekend, guaranteeing a 10-place grid penalty for Hamilton.

Verstappen was 0.425s adrift in his special Honda tribute livery Red Bull, with the sister car of Sergio Perez eight tenths and eight places behind.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz (who also has an engine penalty this weekend) put Ferrari third and fifth, sandwiching Valtteri Bottas’s Mercedes.

Alpine appeared near the top of the times in the early running as teams felt their way around the very different feeling track, with Esteban Ocon fastest for a while on hard tyres.

By the end of the session Ocon was down to sixth, with Fernando Alonso ninth behind Lando Norris’s McLaren and Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri.

Practice 1 Results