MERCEDES SETS THE PACE AHEAD OF ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
Mercedes have set the early pace in practice ahead of this weekends Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Both Mercedes drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, topped the time sheets during the two free practice sessions at the high speed Monza circuit.
Bottas narrowly edged out his teammate for fastest time of the day with a 1:21.406s lap on super-soft tyres in FP2.
Local favourites Ferrari, also celebrating their 70th anniversary of their first car, initially struggled to match the pace of the Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel did manage to close the gap by the end of FP2 to be within 0.140s of Bottas. The two drivers for the Italian marque comfortably third and fourth fastest.
The Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were fifth and six fastest, however they’ll have grid penalties to to deal with after qualifying.
McLaren Honda showed improved pace setting the seventh and eighth fastest times. However those times may not be indicative of their true pace, with Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso drafting each other in qualifying simulations to set the times.
Formula 1 – Italian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
Position | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:21.406s | – | 25 |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:21.462s | 0.056s | 24 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:21.546s | 0.140s | 33 |
4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:21.804s | 0.398s | 34 |
5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1:22.409s | 1.003s | 34 |
6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1:22.752s | 1.346s | 22 |
7 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Honda | 1:22.947s | 1.541s | 31 |
8 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1:22.968s | 1.562s | 31 |
9 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1:22.977s | 1.571s | 43 |
10 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1:22.985s | 1.579s | 42 |
11 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1:23.150s | 1.744s | 21 |
12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:23.272s | 1.866s | 14 |
13 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:23.317s | 1.911s | 34 |
14 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1:23.352s | 1.946s | 43 |
15 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1:23.403s | 1.997s | 36 |
16 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1:23.567s | 2.161s | 31 |
17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1:23.650s | 2.244s | 20 |
18 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1:24.253s | 2.847s | 28 |
19 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:24.894s | 3.488s | 39 |
20 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:25.295s | 3.889s | 25 |
Formula 1 – Italian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
Position | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:21.537s | – | 28 |
2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:21.972s | 0.435s | 31 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:22.652s | 1.115s | 24 |
4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:22.689s | 1.152s | 28 |
5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1:22.742s | 1.205s | 28 |
6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1:22.749s | 1.212s | 23 |
7 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1:23.317s | 1.780s | 36 |
8 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1:23.400s | 1.863s | 34 |
9 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Honda | 1:23.465s | 1.928s | 24 |
10 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1:23.561s | 2.024s | 37 |
11 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1:23.680s | 2.143s | 22 |
12 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1:23.973s | 2.436s | 22 |
13 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1:23.991s | 2.454s | 30 |
14 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1:24.012s | 2.475s | 27 |
15 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1:24.015s | 2.478s | 17 |
16 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1:24.079s | 2.542s | 22 |
17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:24.542s | 3.005s | 17 |
18 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:25.166s | 3.629s | 21 |
19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:25.223s | 3.686s | 26 |
20 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1:25.687s | 4.150s | 17 |
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