Bottas fastest on opening day as Formula 1 makes Qatar debut

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Doha: Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas was quickest on the inaugural day of the first ever Formula One Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix, topping the second free practice under lights yesterday as drivers gave thumbs up to the fast-flowing Losail International Circuit.

The Finn clocked one minute 23.148 seconds, 0.209 seconds faster than Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly. Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Bottas team-mate Lewis Hamilton were third and fourth, with McLaren's Lando Norris taking fifth spot in the final practice session. 

Verstappen, who leads seven-time champion Hamilton by 14 points in the title race, was fastest in the first free practice with a time of one minute 23.723 seconds, earlier yesterday in front of a large number of spectators.

However, the second free practice session – taking place at the same time of today's qualifying and the race tomorrow – held more significance with Bottas being 0.350 faster than Verstappen. 

“We've started the weekend pretty well with the set-up. The balance felt good, so I only made a few minor tweaks for second free practice,” Bottas said yesterday.

“That's an encouraging way to start the weekend at a new track. The team did a really good job with their pre-weekend preparations. We'll keep on working. It's hard to draw conclusions from today, practice is practice, but the feeling is okay and that's promising for the rest of the weekend,” he said.

A lot was said about the Losail track – home to MotoGP season-opening races since 2004 - deemed challenging for drivers, who were experiencing it for the first time except for Red Bull's Sergio Perez and Haas driver Nikita Mazepin. 

Verstappen, speaking after the two sessions, described it as a“really cool track”.

“You need to learn the track a bit, but it's been a lot of fun to drive to be honest. I think it's a really cool track,” said the Dutch.

“It was the first time [we ran] in the evening, so it was important to understand how the car would react,” said Verstappen. 

“Quite a bit of the change between the medium and the soft tyre I think for me, that's why on the soft tyre it wasn't let's say amazing, but again you know it's our first time here, so a lot of things to understand,” he added. 

Hamilton, who did not have an ideal start being outpaced by Verstappen in both the sessions, found Losail track good for the race.

“Driving-wise, it's okay. I mean it's all high-speed corners, so it's definitely physical, but then the track's quite nice, no real issues,” said the Briton, hoping to come up with an improved performance in the next two days.

“I'm a little bit slow, so I need to figure that out tonight,” Hamilton said.

Meanwhile, Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) President Abdulrahman bin Abdullatif Al Mannai was happy with the turn out and expected more crowds during the qualifying and race days. 

“We are excited to see such a record number of fans at a motorsport event in Qatar. Qatar is ready to host the first ever F1 race in front of a capacity crowd. We will have completely full grandstands come race day and this is a testament to the huge appeal of F1,” Al Mannai said yesterday.

“We have been hosting motor racing events at LCSC for many years but this weekend's event will go down in history as the one with the biggest turnout. I am sure the fans will enjoy what should be a spectacular weekend of practice sessions,” he added. 

“There was great buzz at the free practice sessions [yesterday]. We can safely say the atmosphere inside the venue was electric and will be even more so on Saturday and Sunday. There's a lot of activity right now and the buzz will simply get bigger with each passing hour,” QMMF President said.

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