On Friday morning, Sochi was covered in white clouds hiding the venue of the Russian Grand Prix from the scorching sun. Fans could calmly watch the first training of Formula 1 pilots without fear of rain. Rainfall, if expected on this day, it was only in the evening.
Racers usually do not like it when the rain does not allow them to get to know the track normally, but this time such an opportunity would not hurt them. It is absolutely certain that on Saturday it will be necessary to qualify on the wet asphalt of the Sochi Autodrom, and on Sunday the probability of precipitation will be 50%. But it was still impossible to prepare in advance for the first rainy Russian Grand Prix.
Pilots of Red Bull and Toro Rosso arrived in Sochi with new elements of the power plant from Honda. Max Verstappen, Alexander Albon and Pierre Gasly were threatened with a fine of five positions, and Daniil Kvyat was immediately cast to the last place of the starting grid. Substitutions, it was decided to conduct in Russia to nullify the punishment for the next Grand Prix of Japan. Thus, for Kvyata, the home race should have turned into a very difficult test, so that in the homeland of Honda everything went without a hitch.
But the Russian pilot was waiting for an unpleasant surprise. The new engine immediately let its owner down - already in the 28th minute of practice, Kvyat stopped in the 15th turn. In the virtual car security mode, the car was quickly evacuated, and the driver did not leave the boxes anymore. As it turned out, the malfunction concerned the fuel system. Quat managed to drive only five laps and fix the time, which by the end of the training was only enough to take the 19th place and bypass Robert Kubica from Williams, who also had to change the motor and get the most serious penalty on the starting grid.
Not the start that Dany Kvyat wanted at his home race weekend 👀
First practice ends prematurely for the Russian after only five laps 😑 # RussianGP 🇷🇺 # F1pic.twitter.com / Igpc592XS1
The bad news for the Russian pilot did not end there. After the morning races, it became known that the International Automobile Federation forbade him to use a helmet specially prepared for the home Grand Prix. According to the current rules, pilots must perform with the same pattern during the season, and only at one stage it is allowed to change the design. Quat already used this option, speaking in Monza in a helmet in the colors of the flag of Italy, devoting it to his team. In Russia, he was forbidden to do this again.
At the second session of free races, devoted to assessing tire wear, Quat drove out with the same engine that failed. Honda was assured that there was no damage. A new attempt was given to the Russians better, and his results allowed him to stay close to the top ten. But everything almost collapsed at the end of the practice.
After a pit stop, Quat returned to the track at the moment when his partner on Toro Rosso Charles Lecler was passing by. Two cars could collide if the Frenchman did not dodge on time. On the radio, he expressed everything that he thinks about Daniel, and he had to apologize for being imprudent. In justification, Quat only said that twice during the session his system did not work, preventing the engine from shutting down.
"They did actually touch!" 😲
The Toro Rossos came together in FP2 as Dany Kvyat emerged from the pit lane ... and Pierre Gasly was not amused! 😡 #RussianGP 🇷🇺 # F1pic.twitter.com / 2GVgAMJb6R
Half an hour later, the second training session was over, and Quata's result was already better than in the morning. He showed 12th time, losing only one tenth of a second to his former partner Alexander Albon, for whom the Russian Grand Prix was the fourth race at the wheel of the Red Bull. At the same time, Gasli, who after the incident returned to the pits and did not return to the track, managed to take sixth place in the protocol - for the Toro Rosso car, this would be an encouraging result before the race, if not for the upcoming fine.
The best of the day were Charles Lecler of Ferrari and Max Verstappen. Two pilots who shared the third line in the World Cup, once took first and second place in training. The usual dominance of Mercedes, which suddenly stopped this summer, in Sochi also did not resume. Valtteri Bottas was twice above his partner Lewis Hamilton, but he himself did not rise above the third line. Another favorite of the upcoming race, Sebastian Vettel at his Ferrari, first lost half a second to Leclair and took third place, and in the evening was already fifth with a second lag behind Verstappen.
Of the most serious incidents that happened on Friday, it is worth highlighting the departure of Daniel Riccardo at the end of the morning workout. Aussies on Renault failed the brakes, and spectators at the tenth turn witnessed the accident. With breakdowns Valtteri Bottas also reached the pits - his rear wing bent and did not allow normal control of the car.
30 seconds from the end of FP1 👀
Renault's lunch plans get torn up as Daniel Ricciardo hits the barriers 💥 # F1 # RussianGP 🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/vwvS7gvvMb
Between the two training sessions of the Formula 1 pilots, a pleasant event for Russian fans occurred. Sochi on the same days also hosts the last stage of Formula 3, and Robert Schwartzman strengthened his leadership in the overall standings. The Prema Racing pilot won the qualification by earning extra points, and now he just needs to avoid the gatherings in the last two races. And the victory in the “Formula 3”, as you know, increases the chances of young pilots to ever appear in the royal races.