Ferrari starts the Russian weekend with a mixed free practice session as Kimi Raikkonen topped the times, only half a tenth of a second faster than Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. Meanwhile, points leader Sebastian Vettel finished the session fifth, behind Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
It was a relatively unspectacular session for the top teams as they started the race weekend. Vettel set the early pace, but slipped down through the order as the session progressed.
The German was one of a number of drivers who had their session disrupted by red flags, brought out to recover the engine cover from Esteban Ocon’s Force India, which had come loose without contact.
Daniel Ricciardo couldn’t quite match the pace of his younger team-mate, finishing the session in sixth ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez.
The two Williams drivers were a little closer together in eighth and ninth, Lance Stroll just 0.044s slower than Felipe Massa at a track he had apparently not even run on the simulator.
Sergey Sirotkin was the only third driver running in the morning session, taking Nico Hulkenberg’s seat for his home GP. The Russian didn’t get much track time, though, when he stopped on track within the first half hour. Renault set about solving the problem as soon as the car returned to the pits, but it was the end of the day for Sirotkin.
McLaren almost made it to the end of the session without a problem, but in the final ten minutes Stoffel Vandoorne called over the radio that there was “no power” coming from his Honda engine. He finished the session 17th, whilst team-mate Alonso was 13th.
