Formula 1 made its eagerly-anticipated debut at the inaugural Tuscan GP and Valtteri Bottas topped the first practice around the fast and demanding Mugello track.
The picturesque Mugello circuit, which is owned by Ferrari is the first of several new or returning tracks added to the revised 2020 season. It has only previously staged ad-hoc F1 test sessions with the venue more associated with bike racing.
Whilst many drivers have some experience of the 5.2km circuit from testing or junior series, their first true test of driving the 2020-spec F1 cars – the fastest in the sport’s history – around the quick, flowing lap happened on Friday morning of 11 September.
Valtteri Bottas, however, topped the opening session just as with the four other consecutive race weekends. He also did it with the best time from the Mercedes man of 1:17.879.
However, Mercedes were by no means dominant early on in Tuscany.
Max Verstappen was less than a tenth back on Bottas for Red Bull, while Charles Leclerc was surprisingly only 0.3s adrift for Ferrari.
Related: Formula 1: AlphaTauri’s driver Pierre Gasly wins the Italian Grand Prix in dramatic fashion
Tuscan GP Practice One Timesheet
| Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1) Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:17.879 |
| 2) Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.048 |
| 3) Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.307 |
| 4) Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +0.530 |
| 5) Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | +0.797 |
| 6) Esteban Ocon | Renault | +0.926 |
| 7) Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri | +0.960 |
| 8) Lando Norris | McLaren | +1.102 |
| 9) Alexander Albon | Red Bull | +1.189 |
| 10) Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | +1.261 |
| 11) Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | +1.340 |
| 12) Romain Grosjean | Haas | +1.345 |
| 13) Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | +1.388 |
| 14) Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | +1.443 |
| 15) Carlos Sainz | McLaren | +1.578 |
| 16) George Russell | Williams | +1.599 |
| 17) Kevin Magnussen | Haas | +1.672 |
| 18) Lance Stroll | Racing Point | +1.957 |
| 19) Sergio Perez | Racing Point | +1.961 |
| 20) Nicholas Latifi | Williams | +2.155 |
Italian team, Ferrari, head into their 1000th Grand Prix at their own track on the back of two absolutely torrid weekends at Spa and Monza, when they were almost completely absent from the top 10 in all sessions and failed to score any points.
And Leclerc’s P1 performance at Tuscan was a positive one in an SF1000 car that is running in retro burgundy livery this weekend as a nod to Ferrari’s F1 debut in 1950.
Lewis Hamilton who currently leads the championship with 47 points came fourth in the opening session ahead of last week’s surprise first-time winner, Pierre Gasly.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel was outside the top 10 in the second Ferrari as the four-time world champion got back down to work with his current team after his move to his next one, Racing Point, was announced on Thursday.
Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, meanwhile, was the session’s only spinner.
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