What we learned from Friday practice at the Italian GP

The 2024 Italian Grand Prix is baking – 3°C hotter (at 34°C ambient) than in the 2023 Monza race so far, with a near 10°C accompanying rise on track temperatures. This may well combine with the major track surface change here to significantly alter race strategy.

Again this term, four Formula 1 teams seem to be in the hunt – based on what we’ve seen so far in Monza practice. Their identities will be no surprise.

But each of Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes and home favourite of the leading quartet, Ferrari, have made a positive start to the track action at Monza. Only at Mercedes, which had Andrea Kimi Antonelli crash just 10 minutes into his F1 weekend debut, was there a clear down note on the day.

The Silver Arrows squad’s drivers were also complaining of a severe seat heat problem during FP2, while F1 finally got to see the true impact of the controversial track kerb changes at this legendary venue when the pack rolled out on Friday afternoon. And while Red Bull might not have been unable to show any performance running today, the feeling aboard the RB20 for its drivers is much happier than a week ago at Zandvoort.

Here then, is everything we learned from Friday practice at Monza, which offers an insight into how Sunday’s 2024 Italian GP might go for the frontrunners.

The story of the day

The Renault engine staff protesting in the Monza stands did so with great dignity from Autosport’s point of view at the pit exit at the start of FP1. The group in the grandstand opposite here – there was another in a tribune just before the finish line too – politely applauded Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly as they took their Alpines out on track at the session’s commencement.

We then headed for the famed Ascari chicane – where we saw how unlike with the previous savage, narrow kerbs at this sequence, the drivers are now throwing their machines onto the new, flatter variety. But although the line is slightly altered, at this stage of the weekend, the trackside spectacle is generally unchanged.

In the opening session, Antonelli went quickest on his first flying lap early on softs, then was set to go even quicker on his second run a few minutes later. But his tyres cried enough at the Parabolica and he spun off backwards – smashing George Russell’s W15 against the barriers.

Later,