Bottas recorded fastest time in Russian GP practice

Valtteri Bottas set the practice pace on Friday for a Russian Grand Prix that could see Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton equal Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91 Formula One wins.

Bottas was quickest in both sessions, with Hamilton ending the day second overall — 0.267 slower — after tyre problems in the morning left him 19th.

It was the sixth race weekend in a row that Bottas, who has so far won only the opening race in Austria in July, had topped the first session timesheets and Mercedes again looked the team to beat.

The Finn also led the way at the Tuscan Grand Prix in Italy two weeks ago, only for Hamilton to seize pole position and then take his sixth win in nine races this year and 90th of his career.

“There’s definitely more to come,” said Bottas, who took his first F1 win at the circuit in 2017. “I was doing some rally-style drifting at times, which probably isn’t the fastest way around, so there’s still a lot of time to find.