Max Verstappen set the quickest time of the primary observe session for the Italian Grand Prix, whereas Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s FP1 debut ended early with a heavy crash.
There was enormous curiosity in Antonelli, who solely turned 18 final Sunday and is predicted to be confirmed as a Mercedes driver for 2025. Nonetheless, an encouraging begin that noticed him high the instances after his first lap was adopted by a heavy crash at Parabolica on his second try.
Antonelli was instantly on the tempo on tender tires however then misplaced the rear coming into the ultimate nook, spinning into the barrier at excessive velocity and closely damaging the automobile. Whereas he was unharmed within the incident, it introduced out a crimson flag after simply 10 minutes of working, halting proceedings for almost 1 / 4 of the session.
Earlier than that incident, Verstappen seemed to be scuffling with a braking situation as he missed the primary chicane on a number of events, however he appeared happier after the resumption and went quickest on a 1m21.676s as the vast majority of the sector set their finest instances on the tender compound tire.
Charles Leclerc was second quickest as Ferrari introduced an improve bundle to its dwelling race, ending up 0.228s adrift of Verstappen however 0.007s forward of Lando Norris within the McLaren.
There was nearly a repeat incident of the Antonelli crash for Carlos Sainz — who ended up fourth quickest — when the Spaniard needed to catch a snap of oversteer on entry into Parabolica, however he managed to assemble up the automobile earlier than reaching the gravel.
The ultimate nook was proving notably difficult and was hardest on the 2 rookies, with Franco Colapinto — Logan Sargeant’s substitute at Williams — ending his session with a visit by way of the gravel however managing to maintain the automobile transferring and return to the pits.
Previous to that, Colapinto had loved a strong outing and accomplished 23 laps, gaining beneficial mileage within the Williams forward of his first grand prix. The Argentinian’s finest lap was over 0.6s off teammate Alex Albon who ended the session within the high eight, however he’ll have the ability to construct throughout two additional hours of observe.
There was a shock within the high 5 with Valtteri Bottas inside half a second of Verstappen, with the Finn spending a spell on the high of the instances earlier than being bumped down by some late tender tire runs from the front-runners.
Bottas did have a brand new energy unit in his automobile as each Stake and Haas drivers acquired recent Ferrari engines for the Monza weekend, nevertheless it was the same method from FP1 for Mercedes as Albon was the one one in every of its drivers — throughout each the works and buyer groups — to not match a brand new set of energy unit parts.
Apart from Colapinto’s off-track second, the tip of the session additionally noticed a spin for Esteban Ocon, who bounced throughout the apex curb on the first chicane with the rear of his automobile after swapping ends, because the drivers needed to become familiar with Monza’s new observe floor.