The first free practice session before the Turkish Grand Prix has become a slide game for the drivers. The fresh and slippery surface in Istanbul prevented fast lap times. Bolids turned again and again, including the Mercedes from Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
“It’s worse than on ice. I can’t even give full throttle on the straight,” said McLaren driver Lando Norris over the pit radio. Max Verstappen also drew the comparison to a frozen ground, “I think I would be faster with rain tires,” he said according to the portal Motorosport-magazin.com. The track had been cleaned that morning and the asphalt was wet in many places.
In addition to the ground that was partially laid just a few weeks ago, the drivers struggled with the tire selection. The tire manufacturer of Formula 1, Pirelli, only brought the hard tire compound with them to Istanbul. Pirelli had made this decision before it was even decided that new asphalt would be laid. This is what Formula 1 writes on its website.
Asphalt repainted
The asphalt had been repositioned at short notice this year. The race on the Bosporus on Sunday (11.10 a.m., live ticker SPIEGEL.de; TV: RTL and Sky) only slipped into the calendar due to the corona crisis, the last time a Formula 1 race was held in Istanbul in 2011. In preparation for the Grand Prix, the teams had estimated that the track record of 2004, which is 1: 24.77, could be undercut by up to four seconds with the more modern cars.
Max Verstappen set the less informative first best time before the Grand Prix in the Red Bull, while he was still more than ten seconds short of the track record. The Dutchman finished in 1: 35.077 minutes ahead of his teammates Alexander Albon and Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel is fifth in the second Scuderia car. Track conditions are expected to normalize over the course of the weekend.
World champion Hamilton landed in 15th place and was more than five seconds behind Verstappen. The Mercedes driver can become world champion for the seventh time four races before the end of the season and catch up with record champion Michael Schumacher. The 35-year-old Briton is currently 85 points ahead of his team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the overall standings. With 78 points of padding after the Grand Prix, Hamilton can no longer take the title.
