Gasly faster than world championship leaders: Formula 1 rivals are not separated by tenths

Gasly faster than world championship leader
Formula 1 rivals are not separated by tenths

Off the track, the team bosses from Mercedes and Red Bull are fighting violently, while world champion Lewis Hamilton and world championship leader Max Verstappen are looking for the ideal line on the circuit in Qatar. There is a lot of fire in the first guest appearance in Qatar. A surprise man takes advantage of this in training.

Lewis Hamilton was looking for the missing tenths of a second, even Max Verstappen could not yet find the ideal line in the floodlights of Qatar – at the start of the Formula 1 premiere on the desert circuit, both title rivals still had room for improvement: the fastest man was Hamilton’s Mercedes colleague Valtteri Bottas. Off the track, however, the world championship fight had already entered its toughest round to date.

Vice world champion Bottas drove to first place in a Mercedes in 1: 23.148 minutes, Pierre Gasly surprisingly came second in the Alpha Tauri, followed by title rivals Verstappen and Hamilton with a gap of just 0.072 seconds. In Qatar, too, the championship fight remains extremely tight – before the third from last race of the season on Sunday (3 p.m. / Sky and in the ntv.de live ticker) only 14 points.

Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel finished the first day on the Losail Circuit in ninth place, Mick Schumacher landed in the Haas in 19th place and finished the 2nd free practice last.

Off the track, there was also a not unimportant decision. Mercedes had called for an investigation into Verstappen during the week after he defended himself against eventual winner Hamilton with a tough maneuver in Brazil last Sunday. The rulers rejected this on Friday, however, and all eyes were again on the current race weekend.

Formula 1 is visiting Qatar for the first time. The route, which was originally designed for motorcycling, was added to the calendar for Australia at short notice. Some drivers at least had the opportunity to get to know it in advance in the simulator, for others – such as Schumacher – it is completely new.

Qatar had also received a long-term contract from the premier class. After the soccer World Cup in 2022, the racing series is to come to the emirate for an initial ten years from 2023. Like the world football association FIFA, Formula 1 is also criticized for doing business with Qatar despite the critical human rights situation in the country.

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