Verstappen fastest in first practice
Jos Verstappen used his track knowledge of the Sepang circuit to end the first free practice session at the head of the times
Formula One experience also served Ralph Firman well, with the Team Ireland car ending up third fastest.
Another ex-F1 driver, local boy Alex Yoong, will have to wait until later today to show his form however, as the Team Malaysia car was entrusted to Fairuz Fauzy for the one-hour session.
In sweltering conditions, it was the Team Brazil car of Nelson Piquet Jr that was the first to set the pace. The Brazilian's time would only be beaten by Verstappen's, despite Piquet missing the final quarter of the session when he spun and stalled.
The Team Canada car of Sean McIntosh was an innocent victim of Piquet's spin, and his session was prematurely ended by damaged suspension sustained in the minor contact that occurred.
Championship leaders, Team France, ended up fourth fastest, but Alex Premat's best lap was set on old tyres - an ominous sign that the DAMS-run car is once again right on the pace. Robbie Kerr set the 12th fastest time for Team Great Britain.
By way of comparison, Verstappen's best effort of 1:56.342 is just over 20 seconds off Kimi Raikkonen's fastest lap in the F1 race earlier in the year. The Finn's mark was 1:35.483.
Pos Team Driver Time Laps 1. Netherlands Jos Verstappen 1:56.342 17 2. Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr 1:56.351 + 0.009 12 3. Ireland Ralph Firman 1:56.737 + 0.395 10 4. France Alexandre Premat 1:56.917 + 0.575 16 5. Portugal Alvaro Parente 1:57.272 + 0.930 16 6. New Zealand Matt Halliday 1:57.282 + 0.940 19 7. Pakistan Adam Khan 1:57.393 + 1.051 18 8. Malaysia Fairuz Fauzy 1:57.494 + 1.152 9 9. Switzerland Neel Jani 1:57.564 + 1.222 19 10. Canada Sean Mcintosh 1:57.818 + 1.476 12 11. Czech Republic Jaroslav Janis 1:57.899 + 1.557 18 12. Great Britain Robbie Kerr 1:58.002 + 1.660 19 13. South Africa Stephen Simpson 1:58.246 + 1.904 16 14. USA Bryan Herta 1:58.251 + 1.909 16 15. Japan Hayanari Shimoda 1:58.324 + 1.982 20 16. Indonesia Ananda Mikola 1:58.379 + 2.037 9 17. Austria Mathias Lauda 1:58.414 + 2.072 18 18. Italy Enrico Toccacelo 1:58.507 + 2.165 18 19. Australia Christian Jones 1:58.968 + 2.626 19 20. Lebanon Khalil Beschir 1:59.139 + 2.797 19 21. Mexico Luis Diaz 1:59.562 + 3.220 18 22. India Armaan Ebrahim 1:59.791 + 3.449 21 23. China Tengyi Jiang 2:00.019 + 3.677 8
Share Or Save This Story
Autosport 75: Horner’s first F1 season with Red Bull
Every Dutch Formula 1 driver ranked
FIA president Jean Todt: Mick Schumacher should be left in peace
Piastri "flattered" by rumours of Red Bull F1 interest
NASCAR great Kyle Busch dies at 41 after illness
Verstappen: 2027 engine changes “definitely” help me stay in F1
Why Sainz believes F1 and FIA must be "tough" on 2027 changes
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments