EL1 at Hockenheim: Red Bull in the lead by 0,004s on Mercedes territory

By clocking a time of 1’13”525 with the Ultra-Soft rubber, the Australian is ahead Lewis Hamilton, officially extended at Mercedes for two seasons on Thursday, of four small thousandths. Ricciardo will, however, have to start from the back of the grid after taking new engine parts this weekend.

His teammate Max Verstappen climbs to 3rd place with the second RB14, less than two tenths of the EL1 benchmark. Regional of the stage – he was born half an hour from the Hockenheim circuit – Sebastian Vettel ranks 4th with the best representative Ferrari. Note that neither he nor Kimi Räikkönen put on the Ultra-Soft tires this Friday morning.

Valtteri Bottas, whose lease with Mercedes was renewed today for 2019 with an option for 2020, finished 5th ahead of his compatriot Räikkönen, who completed a Top 6 that looked very familiar.

Haas seems to once again have the 4th best car in the field if we are to believe the 7th and 8th places of Romain Grosjean et Kevin Magnussen. Charles Leclerc confirms his good intentions with a new entry in the Top 10: the Monegasque is 9th, one rank ahead Nico Hulkenberg and the highest ranked Renault R.S.18 which have a new front wing this weekend.

Williams, which has made major changes to conclude its recovery program, places its FW41 in 13th and 16th positions, Lance stroll ahead of Sergey Sirotkin. At the house of McLaren, little running to report with only 27 laps covered between Fernando Alonso, 12th, and Stoffel Vandoorne, 20th. The British team claims to have focused on the set-up changes.

Two reservists rode during this first free session. Already seen on the Montreal side with Force India, Nicholas latifi signs the 17th time, replacingEsteban Ocon. At Sauber, Antonio Giovinazzi has to settle for 19th time just behind Pierre Gasly, set back with the Toro Rosso-Honda. The Italian was the victim of an unusual technical problem when he lost part of his engine cover at the start of the session as he was leaving the pits.

Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari are therefore held in 0,271s. Will these first trends be confirmed this afternoon during Free Practice 2. First elements of response from 15:00 p.m. for the start of the second free session.

A strong session for Red Bull in Hockenheim

With Hamilton just a whisker off the top spot#GermanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Ho8UsUN90e

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 20, 2018