Full results from Free Practice 1 for the Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom, round 16 of the 2018 Formula 1 season.<doc-sep>The Ferrari driver was fractionally quicker than Max Verstappen's Red Bull. The margin at the top of the timesheets between the two was just 0.050 seconds, both times being set on the hypersoft tyre at this 5.8km circuit on the shores of the Black Sea. Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton was third quickest, 0.3s down on championship rival Vettel, but like his teammate Valtteri Bottas - who was fourth fastest - the Briton spent most of the 90-minute session running on the soft tyre. Daniel Ricciardo was fifth overall, but had to sit out most of practice after he came into the pits early with smoke billowing from the rear of his Red Bull. His mechanics took the floor off his car to investigate the problem. Ricciardo will face a grid penalty for Sunday's race for power unit changes, along with his teammate Verstappen and three other drivers. They include the Toro Rosso duo of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley and also Fernando Alonso (McLaren). Friday morning's first practice session at Sochi took place in warm and overcast conditions without any major incident. There was spin by Williams's Lance Stroll half an hour before the end of the session, while early on Lando Norris also looped his McLaren around at Turn 4. Norris was one of four driver changes for the opening session of the weekend. Norris took over Alonso's seat, while local driver Artem Markelov was in for Carlos Sainz at Renault. Esteban Ocon was sixth fastest for Force India ahead of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari and Kevin Magnussen's Haas. Nico Hulkenberg was ninth in the timesheets but was forced to pit before the end of the session with an issue with his Renault. Sauber's new signing for 2019, Antonio Giovinazzi stepped in for Marcus Ericsson while Nicholas Latifi replaced Sergio Perez at Force India for the 90-minute session. Pos Driver Car / Engine Time Gap Laps 1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1'34.488 19 2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/TAG Heuer 1'34.538 0.050 22 3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'34.818 0.330 23 4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1'34.999 0.511 28 5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/TAG Heuer 1'35.524 1.036 11 6 Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 1'35.663 1.175 24 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1'35.696 1.208 19 8 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1'36.196 1.708 21 9 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1'36.274 1.786 18 10 Antonio Giovinazzi Sauber/Ferrari 1'36.712 2.224 22 11 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1'36.816 2.328 23 12 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 1'36.944 2.456 25 13 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1'37.022 2.534 25 14 Charles Leclerc Sauber/Ferrari 1'37.054 2.566 24 15 Artem Markelov Renault 1'37.183 2.695 22 16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Renault 1'37.187 2.699 27 17 Nicholas Latifi Force India/Mercedes 1'37.206 2.718 24 18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams/Mercedes 1'37.225 2.737 25 19 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso/Honda 1'37.944 3.456 28 20 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1'39.137 4.649 13<doc-sep>Charles Coates/Getty Images Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in the second practice session on Friday ahead of the 2018 Formula One Russian Grand Prix, after Sebastian Vettel had gone quickest in the morning. The Mercedes driver set a time of one minute, 33.385 seconds on hypersoft tyres at the Sochi Autodrom, while team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Max Verstappen were close behind. Hamilton had come third in FP1 behind Vettel and Verstappen despite running on ultrasofts. FP2 Recap Here's the classification from FP2: Donning hypersoft tyres, it took Verstappen just 13 minutes to go quicker than Vettel's timesheet-topping lap from FP1. The Red Bull remained atop the pile until Mercedes duo Hamilton and Bottas—the defending champion in Russia—made their switch to the compound. The results were immediate, as the Finn claimed P1 with his first run before immediately making way for his team-mate: Video Play Button Videos you might like Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc, who spent much of the morning session wrestling with his Sauber, continued to struggle and was thankful for a substantial run-off area when he missed Turn 5. Hamilton's position atop the timesheet was more or less assured in the later stages of the session as teams switched their attention to longer runs, but Sergio Perez will have been happy to claim seventh spot behind the Mercedes, Red Bulls and Ferraris. FP1 Recap Here's the classification from the first free practice session: McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne set the first benchmark on soft tyres, but he was quickly knocked off the top by the likes of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. Hamilton briefly held the quickest time courtesy of his ultrasoft tyres, but Verstappen's hypersoft compound allowed him to go even quicker. Meanwhile, McLaren reserve driver Lando Norris found himself going in the wrong direction after he clipped a kerb and spun at Turn 4: He wasn't the only one to run into some difficulty. Hamilton also found himself running off the track at Turn 2, while Lance Stroll spun at Turn 8 after he lost control of his Williams: As Mercedes switched their attention to long-run pace on harder compounds, Vettel stole in to leapfrog them and Verstappen on the timesheets.<doc-sep>Lewis Hamilton headed up a one-two finish for Mercedes in second practice for the Russian Grand Prix on Friday afternoon, as Formula 1 title rival Sebastian Vettel ended the session more than half a second off the pace. After seeing Vettel lead for Ferrari in FP1 at the Sochi Autodrom earlier in the day, Hamilton and Mercedes responded in convincing fashion as they surged to the front of the pack, the Briton setting a fastest lap time of 1m33.385s on the Hypersoft tyre. Hamilton's effort - set on his second push lap on the Hypersofts - was good enough to give him P1 by almost two-tenths of a second from Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas as the German marque secured a one-two finish. Red Bull finished as the next-best team as Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo took third and fourth place respectively, split by just 0.017 seconds in the final classification. Ricciardo completed the session without any issues, having missed half of FP1 earlier in the day after a precautionary check on his gearbox due to a possible issue. Hamilton's chief title rival Vettel wound up fifth in the final standings, finishing half a second adrift, as well as suffering a spin late in the session. Vettel struggled to find space on-track at times during his long run, prompting him to vent his frustration about the traffic via team radio. Vettel's teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, finished more than one second slower than Hamilton in sixth place, with Sergio Perez following in P7 for Force India as the leading midfield driver as he returned to the cockpit after missing FP1. Pierre Gasly took eight for Toro Rosso, with Esteban Ocon taking ninth in the second Force India. Marcus Ericsson completed the top 10 for Sauber. Kevin Magnussen took P11 for Haas ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc, while Nico Hulkenberg took 14th for Renault. Romain Grosjean and Brendon Hartley both struggled to match their teammates for pace, finishing down in 15th and 16th respectively. McLaren's struggles continued as Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne finished 17th and 18th respectively, split by over half a second, while Williams propped up the running order with Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll filling out the bottom two positions.<doc-sep>
Sebastian Vettel set the pace for Ferrari in the opening Formula 1 practice session for the Russian Grand Prix on Friday morning, edging out Red Bull's Max Verstappen by five-hundredths of a second. Entering the weekend at the Sochi Autodrom trailing title rival Lewis Hamilton by 40 points at the top of the drivers' standings, Vettel made an impressive start to proceedings in Russia by topping the timesheets for Ferrari, setting a fastest time of 1m34.488s on the Hypersoft tyre. Verstappen led Red Bull's charge by finishing in P2, 0.050 seconds back from Vettel, but was the team's sole runner through the second half of the session as teammate Daniel Ricciardo was sidelined by an issue on his car, forcing his crew to make some precautionary changes through the second half of the session. Hamilton finished FP1 in third place for Mercedes, finishing three-tenths of a second back from Vettel, but completed his best lap on the Soft compound tyre. Teammate Valtteri Bottas followed suit, taking fourth place in the second Mercedes, two-tenths behind Hamilton. Ricciardo followed in sixth, having completed only 11 laps due to the issue on his car. Esteban Ocon finished as the leading midfield driver for Force India in sixth place ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, while Kevin Magnussen wound up eighth for Haas. Nico Hulkenberg took ninth for Renault, but was forced to pit in the final 10 minutes of the session due to an issue on his car, reported by the team to be a possible exhaust leak. Antonio Giovinazzi's development with Sauber ahead of his step up to a race seat for 2019 continued as he took over from Marcus Ericsson for FP1, finishing the session in 10th place, three-tenths clear of teammate Charles Leclerc who was down in P14. Romain Grosjean took 11th for Haas ahead of Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly, while Lando Norris finished 13th for McLaren as he replaced Fernando Alonso for FP1. Norris suffered a brief spin early in the session, but managed to finish one-tenth of a second clear of Stoffel Vandoorne in the sister McLaren MCL33 in 16th. Formula 2 racer Artem Markelov made his first F1 race weekend appearance for Renault at his home race, finishing 15th ahead of Vandoorne and Nicholas Latifi, who stepped in at Force India for Sergio Perez. Sergey Sirotkin took 18th for Williams ahead of Brendon Hartley, with Lance Stroll propping up the running order in 20th.