Carlos Sainz fastest in Italian GP practice on Friday

His teammate Charles Leclerc was fastest in FP1, before Sainz topped FP2 with the fastest time of the day.

Italian Grand Prix FP1 results: Leclerc fastest from Sainz

What happened in Italian GP Free Practice 1?

Verstappen set the early pace at 1m22.853s on hard tyres, 1.173s ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Alpine. Teams switched to soft tyres for the second half of the session, with Leclerc resetting the bar at 1m22.410s, over four tenths up on Verstappen’s time on hards.

Verstappen’s first run on softs was ruined by Lando Norris’s McLaren holding him up in the final sector, which cost him 0.43s to Leclerc’s time despite Max acing the opening sectors.

Sainz grabbed P2, 0.077s down on Leclerc, ahead of George Russell, a quarter of a second off in the first Mercedes, and Lewis Hamilton four tenths down in the second. Verstappen slipped to an unrepresentative fifth, ahead of the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Alonso.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez hit trouble with his DRS flap early on and languished down in 14^th.

Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi replaced Mick Schumacher at Haas for this session and was 18^th fastest, three tenths off Kevin Magnussen.

Mercedes reserve Nyck de Vries, in for Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin, briefly visited the gravel at Ascari and the former F2 and Formula E champion ended his day in 19^th. Sainz mirrored his off in the closing moments during his long run on softs.

Italian Grand Prix FP2 results: Sainz fastest from Verstappen

What happened in Italian GP Free Practice 2?

Teams started this session on medium tyres, with Verstappen setting the bar at 1m23.021s. That was quickly cleared by Leclerc, who produced 1m22.307s.

Leclerc’s time was then pipped by Verstappen on 1m22.303s, putting him fastest by 0.004s. Sainz was third at this point, 0.18s off, and suffered a trip over the sleeping policemen at the Rettifilo chicane between his push laps. Perez was fourth, half a second away from the pace.

Verstappen locked up and shortcut the Rettifilo on his first push lap on softs but produced 1m21.807s on his second attempt. Moments later, Mick Schumacher’s stranded Haas brought out a red flag after suffering a power failure.

Before everyone switched to softs, some being caught out by the stoppage, Sainz’s run was delayed by a fix that was required inside his sidepod. He then grabbed the top spot as the session resumed with 1m21.664s, 0.143s up on Verstappen and…