Written by Owen Bradley
The F1 Italian Grand Prix opened on Friday with a pair of practice sessions - Kimi Antonelli and Franco Colapinto made impressions as they took part in FP1, with Antonelli crashing on just his second flying lap.
FP1 - Verstappen fastest, Ferrari close the gap as Antonelli crashes
Kimi Antonelli would be the star of FP1, with rumours of his announcement as a Mercedes driver seemingly imminent, all eyes were on the young Italian. After a relatively fast first lap, visually pushing quite hard, Antonelli would lose control of his Mercedes on entry to the final corner, the Parabolica at Turn 12, spinning around and slamming into the outside barrier, the crash was estimated to be around 45G.
Max Verstappen would round out the first practice session as the fastest driver on the circuit, setting a lap time of a 1:21.676, driving 19 laps around the Monza circuit. Ferrari have seemingly made some improvements to their package, with both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz inside the Top 5, Leclerc finishing just a couple of tenths off from Verstappen.
Ferrari have allegedly made about nine different upgrades to their car, evidently Monza is one of the tracks that they have placed a focus on, similarly to how Mercedes put a focus on the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, with Lewis Hamilton going on to win his home race.
Multiple drivers struggled on a few corners, particularly the first chicane, with Esteban Ocon notably spinning around on the exit of Turn 1, with the rear of his Alpine riding the sausage kerb of Turn 2.
McLaren would finish comfortably in the mix, Lando Norris just a quarter of a second from Verstappen in third, with Oscar Piastri in sixth, around half a second off. Surprisingly, the pair would be split by a few drivers, one of them including Valtteri Bottas who finished in fifth.
Most drivers had struggled greatly with Turn 12's Parabolica, with Franco Colapinto also running wide and into the gravel on one of his final runs. Colapinto would finish 17th in FP1, just over a second off from the fastest time as the Argentine looks to gain more experience around the circuit in the Williams.
FP2 - Hamilton tops FP2 in scorching temperatures, Kevin Magnussen crashes
Lewis Hamilton would top FP2, setting a 1:20.738 on the Soft compound tyre, nearly a full second quicker than Verstappen's top time in FP1. Verstappen would opt to run on the Medium tyres in FP2, nine tenths of a second slower than Hamilton during another red-flag disrupted session.
Both Mercedes drivers would report that their seats were very hot in FP2, shortly before Kevin Magnussen would lose control of his Haas at Turn 7, the car spinning around as the Dane would then crash into the outside barrier, bringing out the Red Flag.
A lot of the drivers struggled with the opening chicane, with multiple cars locking their front tyres up and carrying on through the escape road, something that may be a familiar sight by the end of the weekend.
Once the session was restarted with around 20 minutes remaining, Lando Norris would set a time just 0.003's from Hamilton, with Carlos Sainz, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc just a tenth behind, as Ferrari and McLaren build upon the foundations laid in FP1.
The flatter kerbs have also played their role in making the circuit a bit more unpredictable, with a few drivers getting caught out with other bouncier kerbs. Lewis Hamilton would experiment with Turn 1's sausage kerb, his Mercedes riding aggressively over the orange kerb and bouncing, as the drivers tried to find as much speed as they could.
With Monza being such a power-dependent circuit, slipstream and getting a tow from another driver will be crucial, with almost all of the teams having the potential to run at the front of the field, it means that both Qualifying and the Grand Prix will likely be decided by fine margins.
FP3 will start at 11:30am on Saturday, UK time.
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