Who will Max Verstappen have to compete with at Monza? With Ferrari or with Mercedes?
If there is too much time between Formula 1 races, you may be a bit ‘out’, but luckily we don’t have that now. It’s time for part 3 of the Triple Header. The Dutch GP was only 5 days ago, but now the cars are back in action at Monza, during the first free practice.
There will be a minute of silence before the training in memory of the late Queen Elizabeth. In a sport in which the British are well represented above average, this is a thing. If the British GP had been on the calendar this weekend, the entire race might have been in limbo.
Anyway, it is now time for the first free practice at Monza. And who will be the first to come out? None other than Nyck de Vries. He drives this free practice session in Vettel’s Aston Martin. This makes our compatriot the only driver to have driven three different F1 cars this season. He previously did free practice for Williams and Mercedes.
Free practice starts with problems for Pierre Gasly, who called in sick yesterday. Today he doesn’t seem to have any health problems, but his car does. Gasly goes straight ahead at the bend, while a plume of smoke comes out of his car. He therefore has to look for the pits.
Gasly returns to the track moments later and the issue seems to be fixed. In the meantime, Max Verstappen is at the top of the scoreboard, with a time of 1.22.853, which he recorded with the hard tire.
Halfway through the session, more soft tires come into view. Leclerc also goes for a fast lap on the soft and sets the fastest time. Verstappen also wants to try on the soft tyre, but is hindered by Norris. “Unbelievable”, is the reaction of Max over the on-board radio.
The question is also how good Mercedes is this weekend, after they were surprisingly fast at Zandvoort. For the time being they seem to be in good shape, because both Russell and Hamilton record a better time than Verstappen. We have to say that Max has not been given free rein to throw out a really fast lap. In the last minutes he does another round, but he doesn’t go full for that either.
So it remains to be seen what the exact proportions are. In any case, things will still be shaken up by grid penalties. Max Verstappen receives a five-place grid penalty and Lewis Hamilton ten. Perez and Sainz are also the losers. There is a good chance that Leclerc will start on pole on Sunday. The tifosi will like that.
Top 10 first free practice Monza
After the first free practice session at Monza, the top 10 looks like this:
- Charles Leclerc: 1.22.410
- Carlos Sainz: 1.22.487
- George Russell: 1.22.689
- Lewis Hamilton: 1.22.831
- Max Verstappen: 1.22.840
- Esteban Ocon: 1.23.075
- Fernando Alonso: 1.23,099
- Yuki Tsunoda: 1.23.260
- Valtteri Bottas: 1.:23.394
- Daniel Ricciardo: 1.23.511
This article This is how the first free practice at Monza went appeared first on Autoblog.nl.
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