Red Bull heads first practice at rainy Malaysia

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Malaysia, Sepang International Circuitmy

Max Verstappen topped the first practice session at Malaysia, topping Daniel Ricciardo in very tricky conditions. Heavy rain caused the session to be delayed by 30 minutes, but even when the session started, Red Bull rapidly showed who were the team to beat.

While gaps were perhaps less important, the forecast of rain for the entire remainder of the weekend made this an interesting session for sure, as teams are likely to focus on wet weather set-up.

Conditions improved throughout the session, and both Red Bull team mates switched at the top of the timesheet until Max Verstappen put in a 1:48.962 in intermediates late in the session. Nobody could beat that, and only 3 drivers got to within two seconds of the Duchtman's laptime.

Fernando Alonso was the fastest driver not in a Red Bull, despite having completed just 6 laps. He was trailed by the Ferrari, of which Kimi Raikkonen was the faster driver. Lewis Hamilton and Vallteri Bottas are up next in 6th and 7th.

Lance Stroll was 8th fastest, followed by Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso's rookie who just started his first complete F1 race weekend at Toro Rosso.

Sergei Sirotkin completed the top 10 in Nico Hulkenberg's Renault, closely followed by team mate Jolyon Palmer.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
133Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:48.962-11
23Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing Tag Heuer1:49.719+0.757s12
314Fernando AlonsoMcLaren Honda1:50.597+1.635s6
47Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:50.734+1.772s12
55Sebastian VettelFerrari1:51.009+2.047s12
644Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:51.518+2.556s8
777Valtteri BottasMercedes1:52.007+3.045s10
818Lance StrollWilliams Mercedes1:52.295+3.333s9
910Pierre GaslyToro Rosso1:52.380+3.418s14
1046Sergey SirotkinRenault1:53.521+4.559s10
1130Jolyon PalmerRenault1:53.625+4.663s10
122Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren Honda1:53.771+4.809s10
1331Esteban OconForce India Mercedes1:53.896+4.934s6
1438Sean GelaelToro Rosso1:54.610+5.648s13
1511Sergio PerezForce India Mercedes1:54.669+5.707s4
1637Charles LeclercSauber Ferrari1:55.280+6.318s10
1794Pascal WehrleinSauber Ferrari1:55.652+6.690s10
188Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:56.211+7.249s8
1950Antonio GiovinazziHaas Ferrari1:56.339+7.377s6
2019Felipe MassaWilliams Mercedes--3