Lewis is pretty quick off the mark
Session halted after Ericsson suffers fiery crash
FORMULA One world champion Lewis Hamilton was fastest for Mercedes in the first French Grand Prix practice in a decade yesterday with the session halted after Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson suffered a fiery crash.
Hamilton, a point behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel after seven races, complained about his car’s handling over the radio but still put in a best time of 1min, 32.231sec.
His Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas, also with a new Mercedes engine in his car, was second fastest in 1:32.371 as France made its return to the F1 calendar for the first time since 2008.
The 90-minute session was redflagged with a minute remaining when Ericsson lost control at the Beausset corner, spun and hit the barriers hard, with the Sauber car then catching fire.
The Swede worryingly remained in the car, with flames licking the airbox, before marshals arrived with an extinguisher and he clambered out from underneath the halo head-protection system.
Video images later showed extensive scorching to the rear of the car.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo, winner of two races this season and still mulling his future options, was third fastest for Red Bull in 1:32.527.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was fourth on the timesheets with Vettel fifth.
Romain Grosjean, in the Haas, was the highest-placed French driver in sixth place and ahead of Dutch 20year-old Max Verstappen.
Frenchman Pierre Gasly was eighth for Honda-powered Toro Rosso.
There was further misery for Williams and McLaren, two of the sport’s most successful teams who are going through difficult times, with their drivers filling four of the bottom five places.
Spain’s double world champion Fernando Alonso, winner at the Le Mans 24 Hours with Toyota last weekend, came down to earth with a bump in 16th place with McLaren teammate Stoffel Vandoorne 19th.
Tomorrow’s race will be Formula One’s first at Le Castellet’s Paul Ricard circuit since 1990.
If Hamilton and his Mercedes race engineers are not fully focused on Formula One in the hours immediately before tomorrow’s French Grand Prix, blame it on the football.
The four-times world champion conceded that even he would be trying to keep one eye on England’s World Cup group game against Panama which kicks off in Russia two hours before the race at Le Castellet.
Formula One has pushed back the start time specifically to avoid a clash.
“The game is on Sunday so it’s going to be a little bit harder to focus on the race,” the Briton, who is a point behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel after seven races, told reporters in the team hospitality.
“The game will be on in here, I’m sure my engineers will be trying to keep an eye on both things at the same time, as will I.”
Hamilton, the only British driver on the current F1 starting grid, was at school with England and Manchester United wingback Ashley Young although the two have not stayed in touch and Hamilton has always declared himself an Arsenal fan.
“I remember seeing how he was an awesome player as a kid and to watch his success as he’s grown older, the ups and downs he’s had, and to see someone else come from Stevenage and doing well I think is really awesome,” he said.
“Another inspiring character, again showing that you can come from nowhere... he came from nowhere just like me, almost the same street and now he’s representing the country which is great.”
Vettel’s Ferrari engineers are unlikely to have similar distractions in the coming weeks, with Italy failing to qualify for the World Cup finals, although the German – a keen soccer player – might struggle.