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Ricciardo finishes FP1 on top - FP1 summary and results!

Ricciardo finishes FP1 on top - FP1 summary and results!

20-07-2018 10:48

Daniel Ricciardo has finished top of the standings in the first session of the weekend. Red Bull have been off the pace over the last few weekends but have managed to start Germany on the front foot. Ricciardo is likely to start from the back of the grid following engine penalties. Lewis Hamilton finished second in his first session since signing a new contract with Mercedes. His rival Sebastian Vettel finished in 4th, below Verstappen. 

Ricciardo wasn't looking likely to finish fastest but he posted a 1:13.525 which was enough to scrape past Hamilton. Hamilton himself had a slow start to the session arriving 15 minutes late to the garage. Valtteri Bottas, also signing a new contract, could only manage 5th. 

It was a very good session for Williams. At one point they were running 13th and 14th, ahead of both Toro Rosso and McLaren. McLaren themselves had the complete opposite start. They didn't run many laps, but they were testing upgrades for Hungary rather than Germany. When preparations for this weekend began, Alonso got himself into 12th. 

The session was fairly incident free. A bit of drama came when Giovinazzi's engine cover flew off coming out of the pits. He was borrowing Marcus Ericsson's car this morning. Nico Hulkenberg ran onto the gravel with about 25 minutes of the session left with his new front wing. 

FP1 started very quietly, during the first 20 minutes we had just one driver setting a timed lap. Max Verstappen was banging in the laps early on while running to test the aerodynamics. 

Verstappen's fastest time of 1:15.055 was matched identically by Kimi Raikkonen. Quite an impressive feat, especially in an FP1 session. But this time didn't stay at the top for long. Daniel Ricciardo came out and almost beat it by half a second. 

Once the current World Champion came out on track and got warmed up, he was set to challenge for the top. And he beat the challenge. Going half a second faster with a 1:14.181. 

Max Verstappen put on the softer tyres and started to fly. He beat Hamilton, but the reign at the top was short-lived as the four-time world champion soon found a way to get in front of the Dutchman. He set a 1:13.529 but still had work to do. 

Australian Ricciardo was the man to top the Silver Arrow. He did so by just 0.004.