Max Verstappen headlined a red-flagged opening practice session at the Italian Grand Prix as Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s first Mercedes session lasted just 10 minutes with his Parabolica shunt.
Antonelli immediately got into his stride on the soft tyres and logged a 1m23.955s to go top, although his opening effort was eclipsed by temporary team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.
On a second tour with the same softs, Antonelli looked set to go top again on the basis of his opening two sectors, but lost the rear end through the Parabolica and ended with his car spinning off into the wall.
After a 13-minute hiatus to perform the necessary clean-up, the session resumed. Max Verstappen went top for a brief period before becoming overlapped by Alex Albon and Valtteri Bottas, as the times drifted into the 1m22s and the drivers sought to explore the reprofiled Rettifilo and Ascari corners.
Hamilton returned to the top of the order with a 1m22.214s on softs, but Bottas continued to surprise and went even quicker with a 1m22.127s – a time that withstood a two-pronged attack from a later Ferrari attempt on softs. Sainz appeared set to eclipse the Finn, but lost momentum through the Parabolica and backed off.
Bottas’ effort was felled by Leclerc on another run, as the Ferrari driver posted a 1m21.904s on a used soft set. This was almost matched by Norris, who was just 0.013s behind. Verstappen then got ahead with a 1m21.676s, pressing a new set of softs into service to collect the fastest laptime.
This was 0.228s clear of Leclerc’s previous best, as the Ferraris were separated by Norris’ effort among the top four. Bottas’ earlier benchmark remained good enough for fifth overall.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
Oscar Piastri was sixth, ahead of erstwhile session-toppers Hamilton and Albon, while Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso completed the top 10.
Franco Colapinto was 17th fastest, having set the exact same laptime as 18th-placed Esteban Ocon. The Argentine had narrowly evaded a moment similar to Antonelli at the end of the session by losing the rear in the Parabolica, but managed to get enough braking in to avoid the wall and managed to clear the gravel trap.
Antonelli propped up the timing order having been unable to best his opening lap, a time 2.2s adrift of the ultimate pace at the end of the session.
F1 Italian GP FP1 Results
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