2020 F1 Turkish GP Friday practice results: Verstappen dominates
Max Verstappen topped a bizarre opening day of Turkish Grand Prix practice at Istanbul Park for Red Bull on Friday, with drivers suffering a huge lack of grip as F1 returned to Turkey for the first time since 2011.

In the first practice session, Verstappen led Albon by a quarter of a second in a Red Bull 1-2 as teams immediately struggled to find grip on the new track surface, with drivers reporting it was like “driving on ice”. There was also a brief red flag early on as Charles Leclerc dislodged the pit lane entry bollard.
Leclerc ended the session third-quickest for Ferrari, just clear of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.
Daniil Kvyat made it two AlphaTauris in the top six, with Lando Norris the fastest of the McLarens in seventh, ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo). Bottas was the fastest Mercedes in ninth, with world championship leader Lewis Hamilton down in 15th, over 5 seconds off the pace.
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In FP2 the laptimes tumbled, with Verstappen lapping almost 7s faster than FP1. He again led the way, four tenths ahead of Leclerc.
The Mercedes duo were back near the top, albeit over half a second off Verstappen, with Bottas leading Hamilton in third and fourth, with Albon fifth, ahead of Kvyat and Gasly. Vettel slipped to eighth, ahead of Lance Stroll (Racing Point) and Norris.
The conditions remained treacherous, with too many spins to mention, and drivers reporting that the tyres were graining badly on the recently-resurfaced track.
F1 Turkish Grand Prix Free Practice 1 results
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Engine | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | | ![]() | Red Bull | Honda | 29 | 1'35.077 | 202.118 | ||
2 | | ![]() | Red Bull | Honda | 27 | 1'35.318 | 0.241 | 0.241 | 201.607 |
3 | | ![]() | Ferrari | Ferrari | 26 | 1'35.507 | 0.430 | 0.189 | 201.208 |
4 | | ![]() | AlphaTauri | Honda | 26 | 1'35.543 | 0.466 | 0.036 | 201.132 |
5 | | ![]() | Ferrari | Ferrari | 29 | 1'35.620 | 0.543 | 0.077 | 200.970 |
6 | | ![]() | AlphaTauri | Honda | 27 | 1'36.738 | 1.661 | 1.118 | 198.647 |
7 | | ![]() | McLaren | Renault | 21 | 1'37.216 | 2.139 | 0.478 | 197.671 |
8 | | ![]() | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | 21 | 1'37.503 | 2.426 | 0.287 | 197.089 |
9 | | ![]() | Mercedes | Mercedes | 23 | 1'37.629 | 2.552 | 0.126 | 196.834 |
10 | | ![]() | Renault | Renault | 23 | 1'38.428 | 3.351 | 0.799 | 195.237 |
11 | | ![]() | Williams | Mercedes | 18 | 1'38.508 | 3.431 | 0.080 | 195.078 |
12 | | ![]() | Racing Point | Mercedes | 22 | 1'38.612 | 3.535 | 0.104 | 194.872 |
13 | | ![]() | Racing Point | Mercedes | 21 | 1'39.484 | 4.407 | 0.872 | 193.164 |
14 | | ![]() | Haas | Ferrari | 25 | 1'40.025 | 4.948 | 0.541 | 192.119 |
15 | | ![]() | Mercedes | Mercedes | 12 | 1'40.225 | 5.148 | 0.200 | 191.736 |
16 | | ![]() | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | 23 | 1'41.035 | 5.958 | 0.810 | 190.199 |
17 | | ![]() | Haas | Ferrari | 21 | 1'41.854 | 6.777 | 0.819 | 188.670 |
18 | | ![]() | Renault | Renault | 20 | 1'45.156 | 10.079 | 3.302 | 182.745 |
19 | | ![]() | McLaren | Renault | 12 | 1'46.462 | 11.385 | 1.306 | 180.503 |
20 | | ![]() | Williams | Mercedes | 17 | 1'49.256 | 14.179 | 2.794 | 175.887 |
View full results |
F1 Turkish Grand Prix Free Practice 2 results
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Engine | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | | ![]() | Red Bull | Honda | 37 | 1'28.330 | 217.556 | ||
2 | | ![]() | Ferrari | Ferrari | 45 | 1'28.731 | 0.401 | 0.401 | 216.573 |
3 | | ![]() | Mercedes | Mercedes | 43 | 1'28.905 | 0.575 | 0.174 | 216.149 |
4 | | ![]() | Mercedes | Mercedes | 39 | 1'29.180 | 0.850 | 0.275 | 215.483 |
5 | | ![]() | Red Bull | Honda | 42 | 1'29.363 | 1.033 | 0.183 | 215.042 |
6 | | ![]() | AlphaTauri | Honda | 43 | 1'29.689 | 1.359 | 0.326 | 214.260 |
7 | | ![]() | AlphaTauri | Honda | 43 | 1'29.944 | 1.614 | 0.255 | 213.652 |
8 | | ![]() | Ferrari | Ferrari | 41 | 1'30.022 | 1.692 | 0.078 | 213.467 |
9 | | ![]() | Racing Point | Mercedes | 38 | 1'30.297 | 1.967 | 0.275 | 212.817 |
10 | | ![]() | McLaren | Renault | 39 | 1'30.907 | 2.577 | 0.610 | 211.389 |
11 | | ![]() | Racing Point | Mercedes | 38 | 1'31.104 | 2.774 | 0.197 | 210.932 |
12 | | ![]() | Renault | Renault | 36 | 1'31.380 | 3.050 | 0.276 | 210.295 |
13 | | ![]() | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | 39 | 1'31.493 | 3.163 | 0.113 | 210.035 |
14 | | ![]() | McLaren | Renault | 40 | 1'31.498 | 3.168 | 0.005 | 210.024 |
15 | | ![]() | Renault | Renault | 35 | 1'31.660 | 3.330 | 0.162 | 209.653 |
16 | | ![]() | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | 43 | 1'31.932 | 3.602 | 0.272 | 209.032 |
17 | | ![]() | Williams | Mercedes | 39 | 1'32.302 | 3.972 | 0.370 | 208.194 |
18 | | ![]() | Haas | Ferrari | 33 | 1'32.570 | 4.240 | 0.268 | 207.592 |
19 | | ![]() | Haas | Ferrari | 37 | 1'32.807 | 4.477 | 0.237 | 207.061 |
20 | | ![]() | Williams | Mercedes | 40 | 1'33.488 | 5.158 | 0.681 | 205.553 |
View full results |
F1 Turkish Grand Prix practice as it happened
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Turkish GP: Verstappen leads Leclerc in second practice
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About this article
Series | Formula 1 |
Event | Turkish GP |
Sub-event | FP2 |
Author | Charles Bradley |
2020 F1 Turkish GP Friday practice results: Verstappen dominates
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