ISTANBUL, CMC – Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton received a 10-place grid penalty for the Turkish Grand Prix after Mercedes took a new engine.
Hamilton set the fastest time in the first free practice (FP1) for the Grand Prix at Istanbul Park, ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari. The championship leader set a time of one minute, 24.178 seconds in FP1 after it was confirmed that he would take the new engine for tomorrow’s race.
Verstappen finished 0.425 secs off and Leclerc only 0.051 off the new-look Red Bull in P3.
Hamilton is two points clear of Verstappen in the championship table with seven races to go, including Sunday, and any mechanical failure in a race would be a big blow.
He said he will have “a lot of work to do” in the race, but he is encouraged by Mercedes’ pace after he topped the timesheets.
“We started off with a really good set-up,” he said. “The first session was really strong, we made some changes, and the track is evolving and feeling different. The changes were okay; I’m not sure it felt as good as it did in the first session in the second session, but we’ve got lots of good findings and hopefully take those forward.
“I don’t know how much more there is, but we always find something during the evenings, so I definitely think we can find just a little bit (late Friday) and into (Saturday) if it’s not raining. And then I have a lot of work to do Sunday, either way, whatever the case, so just going to try and focus on how I can get the best out there.
“I need to be on pole to limit the loss and then of course I need to understand the car to do the best in terms of long run, so just trying to find the balance, no real difference to any other weekend.” Hamilton said he was impressed by how much more grip there was from the Istanbul Park track, one year on from very slippery conditions.
“It was much different,” he said. “Last year was a brand-new surface and the oil came up from the bitumen and they cleaned it off, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but there is so much more grip than we’ve ever had before. It’s intense how much grip there is out there, which is awesome, so it has made it a much more enjoyable track to drive, much like it was before.”
Hamilton said he expected Ferrari to give the biggest trouble tomorrow, after both performed well in the practice runs.
“They’re going to be hard to pass, as are [Alpine] and McLaren,” he said. “They seem to be improving more and more through the year.
“I don’t know where that’s coming from, if they’re bringing upgrades, I don’t know. It’s not really my focus, but it’s good to see them getting stronger and I hope they’re strong next year.”
Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes took fourth, six tenths-of-a-second off his teammate, while engine penalty-hit Carlos Sainz rounded out the top five for Ferrari as all five set their benchmarks on softs.