Grosjean suffers pitlane crash as Gasly fastest in British GP practice
Pierre Gasly went fastest in an incident packed first practice session ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver put in a suspected low fuel run at the end of the morning to go nearly half a second quicker than Valtteri Bottas, with Max Verstappen
third and Lewis Hamilton
fourth.
The Silverstone track has been relayed ahead of the race and drivers struggled for grip in the session as the asphalt required cars to lay down rubber on the surface through accumulated laps.
?? @RGrosjean
#BritishGP
???? #F1
pic.twitter.com/TN0w9N1hqH
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 12, 2019
But no driver struggled more than Romain Grosjean who suffered the embarrassment of spinning out in the pitlane.
The Haas driver was making his way to start an outlap only to spin once he had passed the pitlane speed limit and negotiated what was otherwise a basic right turn.
After losing his front wing by crashing into a barrier, the Frenchman had no choice but to drive a short way back down the pits, where he could turn round and make a second attempt at joining the track.
FP1 CLASSIFICATION: Go, @PierreGASLY
! That's the first time the Frenchman has topped a session ??#BritishGP
pic.twitter.com/bRDx8lWF5o
Bits of his damaged front wing were littered onto the track as he made his way round before pitting to get his car fixed in a wasted run.
To make matters worse, once he did exit the garage he spun again on the circuit, perhaps showing a complete lack of confidence in his car as he ended the morning 19th fastest.
It sums up his worst season in F1 so far, where he has just two points - 12 less than team-mate Kevin Magnussen leaving him 17th in the championship.
But he was not the only one to suffer. The likes of George Russell, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc were caught out by the lack of grip on the track with minor errors.
While Grosjean showed signs of feeling the pressure, another in Gasly ended the morning on a high with the fastest time. The Red Bull driver is in much need of a confidence boost after being lapped by team-mate Verstappen on his way to winning the Austrian Grand Prix last time out.
Hamilton ended the session nearly a second off the pace and five tenths down on team-mate Bottas, but was unable to get a clean run to show his true pace on a weekend he will hope to win the British Grand Prix for a record sixth time.
The Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel followed in fifth and sixth, with the Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg behind them.
Alex Albon was ninth in the morning for Toro Rosso, with Carlos Sainz completing the top 10.
Sainz's McLaren team-mate Lando Norris was just a hundredth of a second slower in 11th at his home race, while compatriot Russell was 17th for Williams.
It proved to be an incident filled session, one that left Ferrari powered teams concerned when Kimi Raikkonen's power unit in his Alfa Romeo appearing to fail, bringing him to a stop out on track.