Bottas fastest in final FP1 of the season

The Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas topped the session, with Max Vestappen splitting the two silver arrows in second, as Lewis Hamilton came third.

The second Red Bull of Alexander Albon was in fourth, just ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who failed to make it to the end of the session.

The real surprise in the top six was Romain Grosjean who ended the session in sixth, going faster than Charles Leclerc.

Slow moving traffic

One recurring issue that all drivers seemed to come up against this session was slower cars littered around the track.

No matter if you were Mercedes or Williams, the likelihood was that you were going to find a slower car on your flying lap.

The most infuriating example would be Grosjean who was held up severely by one of the Williams, prompting a rather irate radio message.

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Red Flags

With half an hour remaining in the session the red flag was produced for the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo, following his car spluttering to a halt on the exit of the final corner.

The Renault seemed to come to a stop due to an engine issue, with the commentary team mentioning the oil dripping from the back of the car.

A brief plume of smoke erupted from the car during the Australian’s flying lap. However, Ricciardo seemed to be optimistic that his team could get the car ready for FP2.

With just two minutes remaining in the session, Vettel produced the second incident of the session and thus the second red flag. The German was on a flying lap and pushed a little to hard through turn 19, losing the back of the car and spinning it into the wall, ending the session.

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Too little too late for Haas

Haas put in a very good showing this session, running in sixth and eighth for large portions of it and even spending time ahead of Hamilton.

However, you must question if this has all come a little late for them, being that they are reaching their peak in the last race of the season.

There has been plenty of turmoil this season for the Americans, and I think that they will be relieved to see the end of the 2019 season after this weekend is through.