#ItalianGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen tops time-sheets as #Antonelli crashes. #F1

Verstappen Italian GP FP1 – Championship leader Max Verstappen pipped Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in FP1 at the Italian GP as debutant Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashed bringing out a red flag. McLaren’s Lando Norris rounded out the top three.

The Dutchman posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1.21.676 on the C5 red side-walled softer compound and was 0.228 seconds quicker than Leclerc whilst Norris was a further 0.241 seconds off in third.

Antonelli’s first session in a Silver Arrow (taking the place of regular George Russell for opening practice) lasted 10 minutes after a snap of oversteer into Parabolica, losing the rear and hitting the wall.

The Italian at his home race weekend in both F2 and for his sole-practice outing in Formula 1 saw him immediately get into the rhythm on the softs as he posted a 1:23.955 to go P1, although his opening flyer was ousted by temporary team-mate Sir Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Norris.

On his second lap on the red-marked tyre, Antonelli looked on course to reclaim top spot after a promising two sectors but lost the rear of the F1 W15 racer through the Parabolica (now Alboreto Curve) and ended with his car spinning and hitting the wall.

After a 13-minute haltage to repair the wall and the necessary clean up, the session went back to green, Verstappen moved to the top for a brief period before being relegated by Williams’ Alexander Albon and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, as the times went into the 1:22’s bracket and the drivers explored the newly revised Variante Del Rettifilo and Ascari corners.

Hamilton returned to the top of the pile setting a 1:22.214 on the softs, but Bottas continued to surprise to go even faster – a 1:22.127 – an effort which withstood the threat from both Ferrari’s soft tyre stints.

Carlos Sainz appeared to beat the Finn, but lost momentum running through Alboreto and backed off.

Bottas’ lap-time was beaten by Leclerc on another hot-lap, as the Monegasque driver set a 1:21.904 on a used set of the softs. This was nearly matched by Norris, who was only 0.013 behind. Verstappen then jumped ahead with a 1:21.676, using a fresh set of the C5 softs to set the fastest effort.

This was 0.228 seconds clear of Leclerc’s previous best effort, as the Ferrari’s were split by Norris amongst the top four. Bottas’ effort was good enough for fifth overall in the time-sheets.

The other McLaren of Oscar Piastri was sixth as Hamilton ended opening practice in seventh.

Williams’ Alexander Albon came eighth in the order as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completed the top ten.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen finished outside the top ten in 11^th and ahead of RB pairing Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda who were 12^th and 13^th respectively as Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was 14^th.

Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu took 15^th and in-front of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who wound up 16^th and Williams’ Franco Colapinto who ended the session in his first outing for the Grove based-squad in 17^th.

BWT Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was 18^th as Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg and the aforementioned Antonelli finished at the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio D’Italia 2024 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1244/italy/practice/1

#F1 @Pirelli #ItalianGP 2024 Preview. #Formula1 #ItalyGP #MonzaGP

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