The Mugello lap record fell immediately on F1’s return to the track, Valtteri Bottas breaking Rubens Barrichello’s 2004 benchmark in first practice for the Tuscan Grand Prix.
Bottas’ 1:17.879 beats Barrichello’s 1’18.704 by more than eight tenths of a second. Max Verstappen was less than half a tenth behind him in second, and the only other driver to dip into the 1’17s, having done a test day in a GT car to learn the circuit.Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton also beat the 16-year-old record, the former getting Ferrari’s 1,000th race weekend off to a more positive start after their dire performances in the last two races.
Early in the session several drivers complained that the rear of their cars felt very loose. Bottas, meanwhile, had a strong understeer balance from the start, asking for “plus five” on his front wing.
Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly described his steering as “very, very light.” Russell also complained of a very light rear and Giovinazzi alarmingly said his steering was “completely to the right” – without having run at Mugello before, a lot of the first practice session was occupied with sorting out basic set-up tweaks.
A few drivers reported traffic concerns around the 15-turn track. Carlos Sainz Jnr, who tested a new nose on his McLaren, was held up by Nicholas Latifi and Romain Grosjean by Sergio Perez, both without consequence. Both Racing Point drivers, doing high-fuel runs, got in the way of rivals, prompting complaints from Romain Grosjean and Verstappen.
Late in the session Grosjean complained his car wasn’t deploying electrical energy correctly around the first half of the lap, saying that there was no power for four turns. Verstappen reported similar problems, stating part way through the session that he was “not using the battery at all.”
Latifi spun at turn two in the last few minutes of the session but recovered onto the circuit without interrupting the session. All cars put in a decent amount of running, despite Stroll being slow to come out of the pits at the very start of practice.
At the end of practice Hamilton was warned he was approaching Casanova in too high a gear, risking power unit damage – he finished the session fourth after several uncharacteristically scruffy laps on his soft tyre runs, half a second back from Bottas’ best time.
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2020 Tuscan Grand Prix Ferrari 1000 first practice result
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’17.879 | 33 | |
| 2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’17.927 | 0.048 | 32 |
| 3 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’18.186 | 0.307 | 27 |
| 4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’18.409 | 0.530 | 28 |
| 5 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’18.676 | 0.797 | 30 |
| 6 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’18.805 | 0.926 | 28 |
| 7 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’18.839 | 0.960 | 31 |
| 8 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’18.981 | 1.102 | 30 |
| 9 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’19.068 | 1.189 | 34 |
| 10 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’19.140 | 1.261 | 25 |
| 11 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’19.219 | 1.340 | 21 |
| 12 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’19.224 | 1.345 | 25 |
| 13 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’19.267 | 1.388 | 27 |
| 14 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’19.322 | 1.443 | 28 |
| 15 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’19.457 | 1.578 | 33 |
| 16 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’19.478 | 1.599 | 29 |
| 17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’19.551 | 1.672 | 25 |
| 18 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’19.836 | 1.957 | 23 |
| 19 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’19.840 | 1.961 | 29 |
| 20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’20.034 | 2.155 | 32 |
First practice visual gaps
Valtteri Bottas – 1’17.879
+0.048 Max Verstappen – 1’17.927
+0.307 Charles Leclerc – 1’18.186
+0.530 Lewis Hamilton – 1’18.409
+0.797 Pierre Gasly – 1’18.676
+0.926 Esteban Ocon – 1’18.805
+0.960 Daniil Kvyat – 1’18.839
+1.102 Lando Norris – 1’18.981
+1.189 Alexander Albon – 1’19.068
+1.261 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’19.140
+1.340 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’19.219
+1.345 Romain Grosjean – 1’19.224
+1.388 Sebastian Vettel – 1’19.267
+1.443 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’19.322
+1.578 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’19.457
+1.599 George Russell – 1’19.478
+1.672 Kevin Magnussen – 1’19.551
+1.957 Lance Stroll – 1’19.836
+1.961 Sergio Perez – 1’19.840
+2.155 Nicholas Latifi – 1’20.034
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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jhg103 (@joshgeake)
11th September 2020, 11:49
Vettel looking a bit, err, off his teammate there…
Hazel Southwell (@hazelsouthwell)
11th September 2020, 11:53
@joshgeake he was vocally not enjoying the session – said early on he wasn’t happy (not sure if that might be an improvement from last weekend though, still!)
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
11th September 2020, 12:04
@hazelsouthwell Croft, di Resta and Herbert seemed pretty convinced that Leclerc was on a glory run, because of the most occasion and the circuit.
David BR (@david-br)
11th September 2020, 14:23
@wsrgo Without seeing first practice, It’s what I instantly assumed on awakening to a F1 official news flash that Leclerc had finished third. Still they proved that the Ferrari can lap in that time, however they’ve done it, presuming it doesn’t involve bending the laws of physics (probably more difficult than building a decent car). Whether that’s sustainable in a race is something else.
BasCB (@bascb)
11th September 2020, 15:53
That seems even more likely after where the Ferrari cars ended up in FP3 @wsrgo, @david-br, @hazelsouthwell
Aiii (@)
11th September 2020, 12:00
I might be a conspiracy thinker here, but there’s definitely some shenanigans going on here with Vettel and Ferrari. I don’t know if they stopped giving him sim time, or just otherwise don’t assist him with finding optimal setups before the weekend, but I don’t believe Vettel just randomly lost a second to his teammate this year just because he “lost his mojo.”
Hazel Southwell (@hazelsouthwell)
11th September 2020, 12:05
@aiii Leclerc has a new chassis this weekend so it might be that Vettel’s time is just showing the difference that makes – don’t know if they would have had two available and obviously Leclerc’s took a lot of damage last weekend.
Oxnard (@montalvo)
11th September 2020, 12:13
Well, Ferrari needs to look good desperately. I wouldn’t be surprised if Leclerc got a lap on very low fuel and perhaps a higher engine setting.
If there would be a 1 second deficit between chassis, Ferrari is even more in trouble.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
11th September 2020, 12:57
Well, not if their best chassis can fight for top 4!
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
11th September 2020, 13:19
@aiii
Leclerc was outperforming Vettel in qualy/races in 2019 even in situations when Ferrari made it clear, in the media & through team orders, that Vettel was their n°1 driver. I don’t think Vettel has lost a full second in 1 year, however he is well known to have a very unusual driving style relying heavily on rear downforce and he is never happy when the car is nervous on turn-in.
The SF1000 which is very nervous and unprecise in low speed corners is just making things worse for Vettel and is just amplifying his struggles. Leclerc on the other hand, has been showing an impressive learning curve from day one at Alfa Romeo and his adapting to whatever car he is driving, he reminds me of young Schumacher in his Benetton years.
Aiii (@)
11th September 2020, 13:20
9-11 Leclerc in Qualifying. 11-9 Vettel in races in 2019.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
11th September 2020, 17:16
@aiii
Since you like statistics, have a look at the below RaceFans stats of their battles in 2019 :
https://www.racefans.net/2019/12/06/team-mate-battles-2019-the-final-score-vettel-vs-leclerc/
Moreover, Leclerc was told in the Australian GP not pass Vettel when he was much faster. He was also told to let Vettel pass in the Chinese GP. Ferrari also messed many times his strategy to favour Vettel. Example, Vettel’s got the better strategy to win in Singapore. Leclerc also beat Vettel in the WDC standings and was the poleman of the year.
Jeorge (@jeorge)
11th September 2020, 14:08
@tifoso1989
Vettel also likes to use the kerbs which from my time with F12013 can guess that it throws the back out
It also isn’t helped by his square racing line
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
11th September 2020, 12:05
We always get the same comment about bikes prefering tarmac run offs, but looking at this track, yeah, there’s a tiny strip of tarmac alongside corners but they almost always end before the exit of the corners, unlike in F1 tracks where there’s hundred square miles of tarmac from corner entry to corner exit. You see a satellite image of the Red Bull Ring and for instance the second to last corner has tarmac run off that almost stretches to the entry of the last corner…
Chaitanya
11th September 2020, 12:08
Also this track has been in use for motocycle racing for a long time and rarely do riders cross that threshhold of tarmac runoff. Also there are always comments from MotoGP riders hating on the miles of tarmac runoff and smooth surface that F1 teams want.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
11th September 2020, 12:52
Good. A place for real men. I hope the Nurburgring, Imola and Portimão are still like this as well!
Chaitanya
11th September 2020, 12:05
Once again what was Grojean trying to prove by squeezing Perez?
Adam (@rocketpanda)
11th September 2020, 12:12
Got to admit that Ferrari looks better in that colour than the old one.
Arnoud van Houwelingen (@kavu)
11th September 2020, 12:44
Albon with softs slower then Max on hards. On softs he is 1,1 sec slower then Max. Is he underperforming what the car is capable of doing or Max overperforming what the car is capable of doing? Probably a mix of both!
Esploratore (@esploratore)
11th September 2020, 12:59
Verstappen is very good, but albon is terrible, you obviously can’t go faster than a car physically allows you, but albon manages to routinely lose a sec per lap, he’s just as bad as gasly at red bull this year, used to be a little better last year, which is bad, reminds me of vandoorne vs alonso.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
11th September 2020, 13:05
it’s something weird with Albon this season, as he’s starting to be actually slower than KVY, which is a feat in itself. He either doesn’t like this new RBR at all or he’s just mentally broken by half season (like all Max’s teammates seem to end up).