Verstappen leads first practice as Antonelli crashes on Monza debut
Max Verstappen set the pace during the first practice session ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, while Kimi Antonelli brought out the red flags after suffering a crash on his debut FP1 outing for Mercedes.
Antonelli was just one of the new faces on track; Franco Colapinto also seized the opportunity, taking over from Logan Sargeant at Williams for the remainder of the season.
The hour-long session, held in hot and sunny conditions starting at 13:30 local time, saw veteran Fernando Alonso leading the pack. Antonelli quickly made an impression, momentarily topping the timesheets with his initial lap. However, his momentum was halted when a snap midway through Parabolica sent him crashing into the barriers just 10 minutes in. Fortunately, the teenager emerged unscathed. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff reassured him over the radio that it was “all good” as the session was red-flagged to recover Antonelli’s car and inspect the barriers. The session resumed at 13:53 local time.
As the session progressed, lap times started tumbling. Valtteri Bottas briefly held P1 with a time of 1m 22.127s on soft tires, edging out Lewis Hamilton by 0.087s. Carlos Sainz also faced minor difficulties but managed to keep his Ferrari on track, commenting afterwards, “Tricky one.”
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc climbed to the top of the timesheets as the session drew to a close, only to be displaced by Verstappen, who clocked the fastest lap of 1m 21.676s. This put him 0.228s ahead of Leclerc, while Lando Norris, fresh off a dominant victory at Zandvoort, came third for McLaren. Sainz was fourth, with Bottas securing an impressive fifth for Kick Sauber. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri rounded out the top six.
Hamilton, running solo for Mercedes for most of the session, took P7, followed by Alex Albon for Williams in P8, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in P9, and Alonso in P10 for Aston Martin.
Haas’s Kevin Magnussen, along with Red Bull juniors Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, secured 11th, 12th, and 13th respectively. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Zhou Guanyu’s Kick Sauber took 14th and 15th.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll clocked the 16th quickest time, while Colapinto, despite a late-session trip through the gravel, managed 17th. Esteban Ocon, who spun at the session’s end, was 18th for Alpine, followed by Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg in 19th, and Antonelli in 20th after his early crash.
With FP1 completed, teams and drivers will debrief and take a breather before returning to the track for the second practice session.
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