F1: Leclerc over Verstappen in opening Russia GP practice

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari man of the moment Charles Leclerc pretty much picked up where he has left off from every race since the summer break – by looking astonishingly quick. He finished on top of the pile, ahead of Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel in opening practice for the Russian GP at Sochi.

The sandbagging Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top-5. All eyes will be on Mercedes later on though, as they didn't go for soft tire runs in the latter stages of FP1 and thus haven't set fully representative lap times.

In what was clearly an eventful last few moments, Daniel Ricciardo spun through Turn 5 and went rearwards into the walls. The Aussie then limped back to the pits with a damaged rear wing.

Robert Kubica had a moment through Turn 5, he ran slightly wide, and got on the power whilst still out on the curbs and spun. Not too costly – he kept it out of the barriers and was able to get going again with no major hiccups.

Practice 1 Results