#ItalianGP FP1: @LewisHamilton tops time-sheets ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton topped the opening FP1 session at the Italian GP ahead of title rival Max Verstappen by 0.452 seconds with the second Silver Arrow of Valtteri Bottas third.

After losing the World Driver’s Championship lead to Verstappen at Zandvoort last weekend, Hamilton made an early statement at Monza this weekend ahead of the evening’s qualifying session in his bid to jump the Dutchman again by setting the benchmark in FP1.

Hamilton spent the early proceedings of the session trading fastest lap times with Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, who hit the top of the order at the halfway point of FP1.

After seeing Verstappen move to P1 after switching to the C4 red side-walled softer compound, Hamilton continued running the more durable C3 yellow-marked mediums, but nevertheless stole top spot.

Hamilton’s effort of a 1:20.926 was enough to give him the time-topper at the end of the session despite a flurry of improvements from fellow competitors on the softer rubber, something the Silver Arrows opted against for both of it’s entries.

Verstappen was left to settle in second on the order in his Honda-powered RB16B, 0.452 seconds adrift of Hamilton’s Italian GP FP1 benchmark, whilst Bottas was a further 0.525 off of his leading Mercedes team-mate in third place.

In the early stages of FP1, Verstappen reported he was struggling in the low-speed corners, noting a lack of rear-grip at the exit of the Variante Del Rettifilo chicane.

Verstappen’s P2 effort was briefly beaten by McLaren’s Lando Norris with a few minutes left on the clock, but the Briton’s lap-time was invalidated due to exceeding track limits at the Parabolica (soon to be named Curva Alboreto).

Norris was warned by his team over the radio that he would encounter several drivers travelling slowly on their out-laps, as a pre-cursor of what could happen in today’s qualifying session, with drivers trying to gain a tow and gap on the track.

Aston Martin enjoyed a solid opening session as Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel ended up fourth and sixth respectively, the pairing split by AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. All three drivers posted their best times on the softer tyre.

Home Grand Prix favourite Ferrari got one of it’s SF21’s into the top ten with Carlos Sainz taking seventh place and his team-mate Charles Leclerc came 11th after having his effort invalidated.

Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso took eighth on a late flyer, ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who was ninth, with both drivers setting their times on the medium compounds, and Red Bull’s Perez completed the top ten.

Norris finished the sole practice session of the day before qualifying in 12th place after his lap-time was invalidated for a track limits infringement. The Briton reported his brakes felt “spongy”, which resulted in three occasions where he missed the Variante Del Rettifilo chicane.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi was 13th and in-front of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, who encountered a loose seat-belt and a power issue during FP1.

The other Alpine of Esteban Ocon finished 15th on the time-sheets ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Robert Kubica, who was continuing to fill in for Kimi Raikkonen, returning to the circuit where he claimed his maiden podium in the 2006 Italian Grand Prix.

Williams Racing pairing George Russell and Nicholas Latifi were 17th and 18th respectively as Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Gran Premio D’Italia 2021 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1076/italy/practice-1.html

#Formula1 @Heineken #ItalianGP 2021 Preview. #F1 #ItalianGrandPrix