Verstappen tops first free practice at the Qatar Grand Prix

Max Verstappen finished on top of the time charts at the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix in the first free practice session. Pierre Gasly was in second position and Valtteri Bottas was in third position at the end of the first practice session

In a season of intense battles for both championships, Formula 1 has arrived at the twentieth race of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship at a brand new circuit to add to the variables.

The Losail International Circuit with a lot of high-speed corners at this newly added race has been driven by most of the drivers in the simulator only.

Only Sergio Pérez and Nikita Mazepin have previously driven at this circuit in other motorsport categories.

The sixty-minute long first free practice session started under warm conditions with air temperatures at 29 degrees C and track temperatures at 43 degrees C. The dust particles and sand is also a factor at this venue.

With the race and qualifying set to start in the evening, this session is not representative of the conditions that will prevail during those all-important night sessions.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C1), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C2), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C3), the hardest compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

Kimi Räikkönen was the first driver on the track followed by the Uralkali Haas F1 Team drivers.

Räikkönen set the first timed lap of 1m30.173s. The lap times fell consistently as the green track rubbered in.

Verstappen was comfortably at the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m25.669s. Lando Norris,Gasly and Bottas took turns at the top of the time charts.

Lewis Hamilton complained to the pitwall that he was low on power and came in later in the session for some repairs.

The track limits will be decided by the stewards after this session. Norris after an off-circuit excursion suffered damage and pitted. Lance Stroll suffered a hydraulic issue and pitted.

The drivers started the run on the soft compound tyres and Verstappen was again quickest as he kept improving his times and ended with a lap time of 1m23.723s.

Gasly had another good session and finished in second position, 0.437 seconds behind Verstappen.

The two Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers, Bottas and Hamilton finished in third and fourth positions. Both the drivers were well off Verstappen’s pace.

Yuki Tsunoda finished in fifth position ahead of the Scuderia Ferrari drivers, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

Pérez, Esteban Ocon and Norris rounded off the top ten positions at the end of the session.

It is advantage Red Bull Racing and Verstappen at the end of the first session of the Qatar Grand Prix.

2021 Qatar Grand Prix FP1 Results: