Tag: Italian GP

No complaints from Norris over team orders

Lando Norris says Oscar Piastri is helping him in his title challenge despite being overtaken by his teammate and finishing behind him in the Italian Grand Prix. McLaren started on the front row in Monza with Norris on pole position and Piastri …

Lando Norris says Oscar Piastri is helping him in his title challenge despite being overtaken by his teammate and finishing behind him in the Italian Grand Prix.

McLaren started on the front row in Monza with Norris on pole position and Piastri second, but an excellent move from the Australian around the outside into the second chicane saw him take the lead on the opening lap. Piastri then led the majority of the race before Charles Leclerc pulled off a one-stop strategy to win ahead of the two McLarens, with Norris finishing third and taking six points out of championship leader Max Verstappen.

“I have help,” Norris said. “Yeah, [Piastri] helps me! But I’m not here just to beg for someone to let me past. That’s not why I’m here. I’m here to race. He drove a better race than me. I finished third and that’s where I deserved to finish.

“It’s the same answer every single weekend: I’ll do the best I can. The more points I gain, the better, but still got eight races to go.”

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Despite having no complaints about Piastri’s overtaking move or the fact McLaren did not impose team orders to switch the drivers late in the race, Norris admits the overall outcome of the race is frustrating after starting from pole position.

“Pretty disappointing, which is obvious from the outside, even,” he said. “Charles drove a great race, honestly. Hard to know if we could have done what he did today, but they deserved it. Both Oscar and Charles drove a good race. So, disappointing, starting from pole and only third when I think the pace was very strong. A shame but that’s what it is.”

Norris also feels there was little McLaren could have done to cover Leclerc’s strategy as it committed early to a two-stop that eventually left both drivers unable to catch the Ferrari in the closing laps.

“We tried [a one-stop], we knew it was the quicker thing to do, but I think we just killed the tires a little bit too easily,” he said. “When you’re in third, it’s a much easier position to just try and risk and do such a thing. I don’t think we can be too disappointed. I think it was a lot riskier for us to try and do it than it was for Charles.

“He made it work, so hats off to them and Ferrari, and himself because the driving part makes a big difference out there. We thought of it, and we wanted to do it, but we couldn’t today. It was clear yesterday we had a good qualifying car, but today our race car was probably quite good enough.”

Leclerc victorious as Ferrari outsmarts McLaren at home

Charles Leclerc beat Oscar Piastri to a famous victory at the Italian Grand Prix after Ferrari caught McLaren by surprise with a well-executed one-stop strategy. Piastri snatched the lead from polesitter Lando Norris on the first lap with a fast …

Charles Leclerc beat Oscar Piastri to a famous victory at the Italian Grand Prix after Ferrari caught McLaren by surprise with a well-executed one-stop strategy.

Piastri snatched the lead from polesitter Lando Norris on the first lap with a fast start that forced his teammate to cover him off the racing line. The Australian immediately swung back to the left to assume the vacated line into the Rettifilo chicane, giving him excellent drive all the way up to the Roggia chicane.

From the outside line Piastri was decisive on the brakes, sweeping around Norris’s right-hand side to claim the corner and take the lead. Norris, appearing to have been caught by surprise by his teammate’s aggression, was delayed getting onto the power, costing him momentum out of the chicane and a place to Leclerc.

It perpetuated Norris’s dismal pole conversion rate, the Briton having failed in all seven P1 starts in grands prix and sprints to hold the lead at the end of the first lap.

Norris was undeterred, however, and appeared particularly motivated by a radio message suggesting he could be deployed to protect Piastri’s lead against Ferrari. He made an early stop, on lap 15, to undercut Leclerc, in what would prove to be the deciding moment of the race.

McLaren had figured a two-stop strategy would be the winning tactic on a day of high tire degradation, and when Leclerc followed him in on lap 16, the team assumed Ferrari was set to do the same.

Leclerc appeared to think likewise too, radioing his team in frustration about having lost the place, but the race was set to sensationally come back to him thanks to an expertly managed final stint.

The McLaren drivers got on with their race, Norris and Piastri trading fastest laps and setting a ferocious pace to gap the field until the Briton made a costly mistake on lap 31, running deep into the Roggia chicane and dropping 5s off the lead. He pitted on the following lap for fresh rubber to make it to the finish.

By now Ferrari’s long-shot strategy was finally twigging on McLaren’s pit wall. Piastri was asked if a one-stop would be possible to cover, but Piastri replied in the negative – he’d battled too hard with his teammate through the middle stint to make it possible.

The Australian was hauled in on lap 38, dropping to third with an 18.8s deficit to the lead with 15 laps remaining and setting up an improbably chase to restore his lead.

He reeled in Carlos Sainz – who also one-stopped his way to the finish – for second, passing the Spaniard on lap 45 and slashing his deficit to 11.7s with eight laps to go. But by now the climb to top spot was too steep, and with the best of his fresh rubber having been used, Piastri’s gains slowed.

Leclerc, nursing what was left of his 38-lap-old tires, crossed the line with 2.7s in hand, sending Ferrari’s home fans in rapture.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” he said. “I thought that the first time would feel [great] and then the second time, if there was a second time, wouldn’t feel as special, but my god the emotions in the last few laps – exactly the same like in 2019.

“Monaco and Monza are the two races that I want to win every year. Obviously I want to win as many races as possible and the world championship as soon as possible, but there are the two most important races of the season, and I managed to win them this year. It’s so, so special.”

The victory, with Sainz dropping to fourth, brings Ferrari to within 39 points of Red Bull and 31 points of McLaren in the fight for the constructors championship.

Leclerc was non-committal on Ferrari’s resurgence but was optimistic it had found a more sustainable vein of competitive form.

“I think out package was working pretty well on a track like Monza,” he said. “Whether it will be the same for the rest of the season, I doubt so. I still think McLaren are the favorites, but we have done a step forward, that’s for sure.”

Piastri was forlorn to cross the line second to a “risky” one-stop strategy he and the team had dismissed before the race.

“It hurts,” he said. “I’m not going to lie, it hurts a lot.

“There were a lot of question marks on the strategy going into the race. From the position we were in with the tires looking like they did, doing a one-stop seemed like a very risky call, and in the end it was right. I’m very, very happy with the pace, with the race that I managed to achieve. It’s just when you finish second, it hurts.”

If Piastri was forlorn, Norris was despondent. He had been eyeing big gains on Max Verstappen’s title lead, but a messy first lap and Ferrari’s strong strategy limited the damage to just eight points, bringing him to 62 points off top spot.

“We’re disappointed of course, but Ferrari did a better job, had a better car today, and hats off to them,” Norris said.

Sainz finished fourth, fading faster and harder than his teammate on his one-stop strategy.

Lewis Hamilton was fifth for Mercedes ahead of Verstappen, who drove a clean but uneventful race to sixth and a whopping 37.9s off the lead.

George Russell finished seventh after picking up front wing damage on the first lap in a light clash with Piastri that forced him into an early stop that colored the rest of his race, though the Briton still managed to overhaul Sergio Perez, demoting the Mexican to eighth.

Alex Albon scored two points for Williams in ninth ahead of a feisty Kevin Magnussen in 10th. However, a 10s penalty for the Dane for causing a collision with Pierre Gasly early in the race accrued him a 12th penalty point on his license for the last 12 months, which will incur a race ban for the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso finished 11th ahead of rookie Franco Colapinto, with Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg, Zhou Guanyu and Lance Stroll completing the finishers.

Yuki Tsunoda was the race’s only retirement after an early collision with Hulkenberg.

RESULTS

Pos Driver Time Pts
1
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1h14m:40.727s
25
2
Oscar Piastri
McLaren
+2.664s
18
3
Lando Norris
McLaren
+6.153s
15
4
Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
+15.621s
12
5
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
+22.820s
10
6.    
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
+37.932s
8
7
George Russell
Mercedes
+39.715s
6
8
Sergio Pérez
Red Bull
+54.148s
4
9
Alex Albon
Williams
+67.456s
2
10
Kevin Magnussen
Haas
+68.302s
1
11
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin
+68.495s
0
12
Franco Colapinto
Williams
+81.308s
0
13
Daniel Ricciardo
RB
+93.452s
0
14
Esteban Ocon
Alpine
+1 Lap
0
15
Pierre Gasly
Alpine
+1 Lap
0
16
Valtteri Bottas
Kick Sauber
+1 Lap
0
17
Nico Hülkenberg
Haas
+1 Lap
0
18
Zhou Guanyu
Kick Sauber
+1 Lap
0
19
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
+1 Lap
0
20
Yuki Tsunoda
RB
DNF
0

 

Hamilton furious with himself after qualifying sixth

Lewis Hamilton was “absolutely furious” to qualify sixth for the Italian Grand Prix, as he believes his mistakes cost him a chance of pole position. Mercedes was competitive throughout the session and Hamilton was provisionally on the second row …

Lewis Hamilton was “absolutely furious” to qualify sixth for the Italian Grand Prix, as he believes his mistakes cost him a chance of pole position.

Mercedes was competitive throughout the session and Hamilton was provisionally on the second row after his first run of Q3, before slipping to sixth with his final lap. The top six were covered by just 0.186s in total, and Hamilton says he didn’t put a clean lap together that cost him a chance of beating Lando Norris’ benchmark.

“Absolutely furious,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “I could have been on pole. I could have been at least on the front row. I didn’t do the job in the end. I lost a tenth and a half into Turn 1 and 2 and then I lost another tenth at the last corner. No one to blame but myself. Qualifying has been my weakness for a minute now and I can’t figure it out. I’ll keep trying. “

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While Hamilton looks to reset ahead of the race, he joked that Mercedes might be better off once he moves to Ferrari and is replaced by Andrea Kimi Antonelli in 2025.

“Probably a little bit of kicking myself over the next couple of hours. Ultimately I’ve got to move forwards. We have a good race car, the team have done an amazing job this weekend,” he said. “The car has been feeling much better than the last race and the team deserve better. Maybe they’ll get that with Kimi.”

Hamilton also believes he is unlikely to be in the mix for victory from sixth on the grid, given how close the field is in terms of outright performance.

“The chance of fighting for a race win is out the window and tomorrow I’ve got to try and recover as much as I can, and see if I can get past the Ferraris and try challenging to get a podium.”

Balance issues put Verstappen in damage-limitation mode again

Max Verstappen doesn’t believe he will be in the fight for victory in the Italian Grand Prix after struggling with the balance of his car and qualifying in seventh place. Red Bull looked competitive alongside McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes on Friday, …

Max Verstappen doesn’t believe he will be in the fight for victory in the Italian Grand Prix after struggling with the balance of his car and qualifying in seventh place.

Red Bull looked competitive alongside McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes on Friday, and appeared in the fight for the top positions in qualifying until Q3, when Verstappen ended up seventh ahead of Sergio Perez in eighth. The team’s long run pace had been more encouraging but Verstappen says the feeling inside the car was not comfortable and he’s not confident in his race pace.

“Probably not [in the fight], no, you cannot win when you’re too slow,” Verstappen said. “The long runs, they might look good on paper, but it didn’t really feel like that personally. The problem is that when you don’t have a balanced car, in the race that is quite painful on tires also. So, let’s see.

“I mean, maybe with how the car is at the moment it might be a little bit better for the race. But we’re also starting in the back of, let’s say, the top group. So, we just have to wait and see what happens in front of us. There are a few unknowns with the [tire] graining, actually, as well. We’ll find out tomorrow.”

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Despite his concerns with how the car is feeling, Verstappen was also surprised by how much his performance dropped off in Q3, as he was unable to match lap times he had set earlier in the qualifying session.

“For whatever reason in Q3 I picked up a lot of understeer on both tire sets. This is something that I don’t understand at the moment,” he said. “It was just not drivable anymore — I couldn’t attack any corner. So that’s something that is very weird. I mean, going four tenths slower than we did in Q2 is just not normal. I already had the same problem on the lap before, on the other tire set. So, it was just not working for whatever reason. I think the temperature dropped a little bit.

“The only explanation is that it felt better on a scrubbed tire for me than on a new. But still, the balance difference that I had in Q3 was very weird. I never experienced something like that before.

“It’s just weird that it suddenly happened, because Q1, Q2, it was not like that. On the other hand, our car is extremely tricky to drive from entry to mid-corner. There’s a massive balance shift at the moment. If you fix one thing, it creates another problem. So, you have to be quite careful with that as well.”

Norris leads McLaren front row lockout at Monza

Lando Norris led Oscar Piastri in a McLaren front-row lockout after a super-tight qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix that saw the top six cars split by just 0.186s. Red Bull wasn’t part of that leading pack, however, with championship …

Lando Norris led Oscar Piastri in a McLaren front-row lockout after a super-tight qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix that saw the top six cars split by just 0.186s.

Red Bull wasn’t part of that leading pack, however, with championship leader Max Verstappen way off the pace in seventh as the team’s midseason struggles continue.

In a boon to his slim but growing championship hopes, Norris set two laps fast enough for pole position, with McLaren a clear step ahead of the rest despite the relatively small margins.

Piastri threatened him for top spot, having been just 0.035s behind after the first runs of Q3, but the challenge never materialized, with the Australian failing to improve with his second attempt despite benefitting from a slipstream. It allowed Norris to extend his advantage to 0.109s in the final reckoning, putting him at the front of McLaren’s second front-row lockout in the last four grands prix and earning him the first back-to-back poles of his career.

“Amazing,” he said. “To have first and second when the field has been as tight as it has been all weekend is a little bit of a surprise, but a nice one. Well done to the team, they did an amazing job. I’m very, very happy.”

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Piastri was disappointed to botch his final qualifying lap, delivering him his eighth straight qualifying defeat to Norris.

“The first lap in Q3 was quite good, just the second wasn’t quite enough, which I feel like I’ve said a few too many times this year,” he said. “Still, a good performance and a really good team effort.

“It’s obviously a long run down to Turn 1, so starting second here isn’t always the worst thing.”

George Russell was a late improver for Mercedes to take third, lapping what he described as a pleasantly surprising 0.113s off pole.

“It was great,” he said. “A little bit better than I expected, because it was a really tough session.

“In the end not too far behind the McLarens. They’re so fast at the moment. We’re working so hard to catch them up. I’m super happy with third.”

Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were closely matched in fourth and fifth, keeping them in the frame for victory on Sunday, while Lewis Hamilton completed the tight top six.

Verstappen slumped to his worst qualifying result of the year, being forced to accept seventh with a car that struggled to master the few corners around Monza’s high-speed layout. The Dutchman was a whopping 0.695s off the pace, closer to the midfield than the pole contenders, and beat teammate Sergio Perez by just 0.04s.

Alex Albon put his upgraded Williams through its paces to qualify ninth on the grid for his second consecutive Q3 appearance, while an on-form Nico Hulkenberg qualified 10th for Haas.

Fernando Alonso qualified 11th, missing out on the top 10 by 0.01s

Daniel Ricciardo was RB’s best qualified, putting his car 12th for the Faenza team’s home grand prix.

Kevin Magnussen’s scrappy qualifying sessions — including a wide moment through the gravel at Parabolica in Q1 — culminated in a an underwhelming 13th, well behind high-flying teammate Hulkenberg. Alpine duo Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon will line up 14th and 15th.

Yuki Tsunoda was knocked out 16th after being pipped for a spot in Q2 by teammate Ricciardo by just 0.044s, leaving RB with a question mark over the effectiveness of the upgrade package being run by only the Japanese driver this weekend.

Lance Stroll executed his equal worst qualifying performance of the season in 17th, matching his same result from the Austrian Grand Prix.

Debutant Franco Colapinto had been in with a Q2 chance until he exited the second Lesmo wide and skidded along the stones. He saved his car but not his session, leaving him 18th.

Sauber teammates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu will make up the back row of the grid, the Finn 0.344s ahead of the Chinese driver.

Hamilton leads Mercedes one-two in final Italian GP practice

Lewis Hamilton led teammate George Russell to the top of the timesheets in final practice at the Italian Grand Prix while Max Verstappen languished more than a quarter of a second off the pace. The Mercedes drivers set their fastest time with around …

Lewis Hamilton led teammate George Russell to the top of the timesheets in final practice at the Italian Grand Prix while Max Verstappen languished more than a quarter of a second off the pace.

The Mercedes drivers set their fastest time with around 10 minutes to go in the session as among the last of the front-runners to embark on their ultimate flying laps, capitalizing on most of the track evolution. Russell set his time first, but the Briton complained that the lap had “felt pretty rubbish” and that the “balance is quite a long way off.”

Hamilton immediately bettered it, but by only 0.093s, setting the benchmark at 1m20.117s.

Charles Leclerc was third fastest, the Ferrari driver only 0.109s off the pace, but the Monegasque set his best lap on 13-lap-old soft tires rather than a fresh set, masking what could have been session-topping pace.

Oscar Piastri slotted into fourth and 0.026s further back after he and Leclerc found themselves under the microscope of race control for impeding in an awkward run-in during the final flying laps. Television showed Piastri appearing to shove Leclerc towards the right-side grass exiting the second Lesmo in what could have been retribution for being blocked earlier around the lap. But subsequent replays revealed Piastri had been attempting to get out of the way of the fast-approaching Daniel Ricciardo to his left, giving the impression of a clumsy accident. Though all three cars escaped damage, the matter was referred to the stewards for a post-session investigation.

Lando Norris slotted into fifth just 0.01s slower than Piastri, but of considerable more intrigue was his 0.106s advantage over Verstappen in sixth.

Verstappen struggled through several attempts at a flying lap but found his efforts stymied by a recalcitrant RB20 that couldn’t navigate the middle sector with any sort of competitive speed.

“The car doesn’t turn low speed or medium speed,” he radioed after setting his best time 0.251 off Hamilton’s benchmark.

Carlos Sainz was seventh for Ferrari and 0.346s off the pace, his best time coming on heavily used soft tires.

Alex Albon led the midfield in eighth ahead of new teammate Franco Colapinto, who was 0.309s back in ninth.

Nico Hulkenberg was the fastest driver in the first sector but ended 10th and 0.826s off the pace, pipping 11th-placed Fernando Alonso to the place by 0.025s.

Daniel Ricciardo was 12th despite having his first flying lap blocked by the Piastri-Leclerc incident, but his second attempt moved him up to 12th and 0.064s ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda despite the Australian not being equipped with the car’s latest upgrade package.

Pierre Gasly was 14th ahead of Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen — the Haas driver was instructed to stop on track at the end of the session with a technical problem — and Esteban Ocon.

Sergio Perez saved his soft tire run until late but botched his lap, lacking grip through the first sector and running off the road at the Roggia chicane, leaving him 18th and 1.17s off the pace.

Sauber teammates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu finished bottom of the order in 19th and 20th.

Wolff says Antonelli’s ‘astonishing’ pace outweighs crash

Toto Wolff described Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s pace as “just astonishing” prior to his crash in FP1 at the Italian Grand Prix, and says the incident won’t impact Mercedes’ decision on his future. Antonelli went fastest overall with his first timed lap …

Toto Wolff described Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s pace as “just astonishing” prior to his crash in FP1 at the Italian Grand Prix, and says the incident won’t impact Mercedes’ decision on his future.

Antonelli went fastest overall with his first timed lap on his FP1 debut at Monza in the car normally run for George Russell, and was looking set to take top spot once again from teammate Lewis Hamilton before crashing heavily at the final corner on his second run. Despite Antonelli’s session ending after just 10 minutes, Mercedes team principal Wolff says he’s already shown eye-catching pace.

“Most importantly, he’s OK, because the crash was 45G, so that’s important,” Wolff said. “Second priority is to get the car ready for George so the program doesn’t suffer too much, which hopefully is going to be OK. We may run a little bit late, but it’s going to be OK.

“And the third one, yeah, it’s unfortunate, because I guess having had an hour to run, we would have seen some good performances. But that’s what we always said: He’s a rookie, he’s very young, we are prepared to invest into his future and these moments, they will happen and they will continue to happen next year. But there will also be a lot of highlights.

“I think what we’ve seen today was…. We’d rather have a problem in slowing him down than making him faster. Because what we’ve seen from one and a half laps is just astonishing.”

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Wolff says Antonelli was apologetic when he returned to the garage after the crash, and believes the young Italian was simply caught out by the grip on offer from his tires as he turned in for Parabolica.

“He apologized, first of all, and I think this is what you need to do when you bring a car back that looks a little bit like a Lego box falling on the floor. But also he said that he felt so much confidence, the car was good. And I guess he was just bitten.

“Everybody suffered from temperature and especially rear temperature out of Ascari with these kinds of speeds and that’s why the rear went away and stepped out.”

Wolff suggested Antonelli will get another outing in FP1 in Mexico City, and says the crash is part of the 18-year-old’s learning curve and won’t have a negative impact on the likelihood of him getting the vacant race seat in 2025.

“I think a strong driver needs to recover from these things and cope with the pressure. And obviously this weekend wasn’t easy for him because he still needs to compete in F2,” Wolff noted. “You have all these shenanigans around you in Monza — Italian kid that’s being hyped for the first time in a Mercedes — and that must be a heavy burden. If he wants to be a champion one day, he needs to cope with that, and I have no doubt that he can and he will.

“No, zero effect [on the 2025 decision]. I think most important is to hire based on ability. And an FP1 that’s gone wrong is not the reason why you decide for or against the driver.”

Hamilton tops second Italian GP practice after Red Bull fumble

Lewis Hamilton led a very tight top five after Max Verstappen failed to string together a clean lap in second practice at the Italian Grand Prix. Hamilton set the benchmark at 1m20.738s early in the session before switching to race runs, which were …

Lewis Hamilton led a very tight top five after Max Verstappen failed to string together a clean lap in second practice at the Italian Grand Prix.

Hamilton set the benchmark at 1m20.738s early in the session before switching to race runs, which were less impressive relative to the field and characterized by several complaints about an overheating seat. The time was only just enough to take top spot for Hamilton, with the top five cars — all from the front-running four teams — separated by just 0.154s.

Lando Norris was next in the order, the McLaren driver just 0.003s adrift, while Carlos Sainz generated optimism for Ferrari’s home crowd by lapping exactly 0.1s further back.

Oscar Piastri briefly looked set to blitz the field on his qualifying run in the first 15 minutes, his McLaren claiming the fastest time in the first two sectors, but the Australian failed to improve on even his personal-best time in the final split, leaving him 0.12s off the pace in fourth. Had he combined his first two purple sectors with his personal best time in the third sector, he’d have leapt up to third in the order.

Charles Leclerc completed the top five group in his Ferrari, 0.154s off the pace.

George Russell joined the leading pack in sixth with a late lap on softs in his rebuilt Mercedes. The Briton lost the first 22 minutes of the session to the final phase of the significant repairs required for his Mercedes after young gun Andrea Kimi Antonelli heavily crashed at Parabolica early in FP1.

Russell spent most of his truncated session on race runs, bolting on the soft tire only in the final five minutes, making his lap an unrepresentative 0.348s slower than his teammate’s headline lap. But his time was at least closer to the mark than the efforts from both Verstappen and Sergio Perez at Red Bull Racing, neither of whom was able to string together a clean lap.

Verstappen’s qualifying simulation run was spoiled by a snap at Parabolica that ruined the lap. He ended the session 14th and 0.872s off the pace, his best lap one he completed on mediums.

Perez, meanwhile, lost the first 23 minutes of the hour-long session to system checks following a precautionary gearbox change made between sessions, leaving him 15th.

Heading the midfield was Nico Hulkenberg, who was seventh in lieu of Red Bull Racing. He finished 0.16s ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll completing the top 10.

Valtteri Bottas was 11th ahead of the crashed-out Kevin Magnussen, who triggered a 12-minute red flag halfway through the session when he carried too much speed into the second Lesmo and spun off the road. His Haas skipped over the gravel before crashing into the barriers with his left-front corner, his afternoon ending on the spot.

Alex Albon was 13th ahead of the Red Bull Racing pair.

Yuki Tsunoda was 16th in his upgraded RB, lapping 0.435s slower than teammate Ricciardo despite the Australian not benefiting from the full update package.

Debutant Franco Colapinto was 17th for Williams and only 0.192s slower than new teammate Albon.

Alpine pair Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were 18th and 19th ahead of Zhou Guanyu at the back of the pack.

Verstappen upstages Ferrari in first Italian GP practice

Max Verstappen set the fastest time of the first practice session for the Italian Grand Prix, while Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s FP1 debut ended early with a heavy crash. There was huge interest in Antonelli, who only turned 18 …

Max Verstappen set the fastest time of the first practice session for the Italian Grand Prix, while Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s FP1 debut ended early with a heavy crash.

There was huge interest in Antonelli, who only turned 18 last Sunday and is expected to be confirmed as a Mercedes driver for 2025. However, an encouraging start that saw him top the times after his first lap was followed by a heavy crash at Parabolica on his second attempt.

Antonelli was immediately on the pace on soft tires but then lost the rear entering the final corner, spinning into the barrier at high speed and heavily damaging the car. While he was unhurt in the incident, it brought out a red flag after just 10 minutes of running, halting proceedings for nearly a quarter of the session.

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Before that incident, Verstappen appeared to be struggling with a braking issue as he missed the first chicane on multiple occasions, but he seemed happier after the resumption and went fastest on a 1m21.676s as the majority of the field set their best times on the soft compound tire.

Charles Leclerc was second quickest as Ferrari brought an upgrade package to its home race, ending up 0.228s adrift of Verstappen but 0.007s ahead of Lando Norris in the McLaren.

There was almost a repeat incident of the Antonelli crash for Carlos Sainz — who ended up fourth fastest — when the Spaniard had to catch a snap of oversteer on entry into Parabolica, but he managed to gather up the car before reaching the gravel.

The final corner was proving particularly challenging and was toughest on the two rookies, with Franco Colapinto — Logan Sargeant’s replacement at Williams — ending his session with a trip through the gravel but managing to keep the car moving and return to the pits.

Prior to that, Colapinto had enjoyed a solid outing and completed 23 laps, gaining valuable mileage in the Williams ahead of his first grand prix. The Argentinian’s best lap was over 0.6s off teammate Alex Albon who ended the session in the top eight, but he will be able to build across two further hours of practice.

There was a surprise in the top five with Valtteri Bottas within half a second of Verstappen, with the Finn spending a spell at the top of the times before being bumped down by some late soft tire runs from the front-runners.

Bottas did have a new power unit in his car as both Stake and Haas drivers received fresh Ferrari engines for the Monza weekend, but it was a similar approach from FP1 for Mercedes as Albon was the only one of its drivers — across both the works and customer teams — not to fit a new set of power unit components.

Aside from Colapinto’s off-track moment, the end of the session also saw a spin for Esteban Ocon, who bounced across the apex curb at the first chicane with the rear of his car after swapping ends, as the drivers had to get to grips with Monza’s new track surface.

Antonelli crashes five laps into Mercedes debut

Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashed out of practice just 10 minutes into his FP1 debut at the Italian Grand Prix. Antonelli was making his first appearance during a race weekend for Mercedes, having been heavily tipped to be confirmed as …

Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashed out of practice just 10 minutes into his FP1 debut at the Italian Grand Prix.

Antonelli was making his first appearance during a race weekend for Mercedes, having been heavily tipped to be confirmed as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement at some stage over the coming days at Monza. The Italian had already completed Formula 2 practice earlier in the day when he jumped in the W15, but managed just five laps before crashing.

Having gone fastest on his first timed lap on soft tires, Antonelli was on his second attempt and looking set to regain top spot from teammate Hamilton when he lost control at Parabolica — the high-speed final right hander of the lap — and went spinning into the barrier.

Antonelli suffered a heavy impact but reported to the team on the radio that he was OK, with the session red flagged immediately to recover the car and rearrange the tire barrier on the outside of the corner.

Mercedes confirmed it has spares of the new floor that Antonelli was running, but the team will have to assess any potential damage to the power unit — one of George Russell’s allocation — after fitting a complete new engine for the Monza weekend.