Mercedes head Monza time sheets

2016 Italian Grand Prix first practice

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Nico Rosberg put Mercedes on top in the first practice session at Monza as the team were among few to run the super-soft tyres in the first session.

Italian Grand Prix practice in pictures
Rosberg set his best time of 1’22.959 which was four-tenths of a second quicker than the best time seen last year, on the soft compound tyres. Lewis Hamilton made it a one-two for the silver cars, the pair separated by two-tenths.

The Ferrari drivers were a second in arrears as the home favourites set their best times on the slower soft compound tyres. Kimi Raikkonen was the quicker of the pair while Sebastian Vettel found he couldn’t get a quick second lap from the rubber late in the session.

The next two drivers both used the super-soft tyres to set their best times: Sergio Perez in the Force India (test driver Alfonso Celis drove theteam’s othercar) and Romain Grosjean for Haas. The second Haas also appeared in the top ten, Esteban Gutierrez three-tenths down on his team mate.

The two VF-16s were separated by Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen, the latter testing the Halo device on his Red Bull. His team mate completed the top ten.

A largely uneventful session ended with Fernando Alonso limping back to the pits in his McLaren after an apparent technical problem.

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’22.959 37
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’23.162 0.203 36
3 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1’24.047 1.088 16
4 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’24.307 1.348 17
5 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’24.650 1.691 32
6 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1’24.763 1.804 17
7 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1’24.785 1.826 37
8 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’24.982 2.023 25
9 21 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1’25.113 2.154 19
10 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1’25.120 2.161 17
11 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1’25.351 2.392 23
12 34 Alfonso Celis Force India-Mercedes 1’25.367 2.408 30
13 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1’25.507 2.548 14
14 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’25.840 2.881 18
15 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1’25.853 2.894 20
16 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’25.973 3.014 20
17 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’26.074 3.115 20
18 31 Esteban Ocon Manor-Mercedes 1’26.391 3.432 30
19 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1’26.439 3.480 21
20 94 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1’26.762 3.803 28
21 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1’26.811 3.852 35
22 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1’26.956 3.997 32

First practice visual gaps

Nico Rosberg – 1’22.959

+0.203 Lewis Hamilton – 1’23.162

+1.088 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’24.047

+1.348 Sebastian Vettel – 1’24.307

+1.691 Sergio Perez – 1’24.650

+1.804 Romain Grosjean – 1’24.763

+1.826 Valtteri Bottas – 1’24.785

+2.023 Max Verstappen – 1’24.982

+2.154 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’25.113

+2.161 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’25.120

+2.392 Jenson Button – 1’25.351

+2.408 Alfonso Celis – 1’25.367

+2.548 Fernando Alonso – 1’25.507

+2.881 Felipe Massa – 1’25.840

+2.894 Marcus Ericsson – 1’25.853

+3.014 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’25.973

+3.115 Daniil Kvyat – 1’26.074

+3.432 Esteban Ocon – 1’26.391

+3.480 Felipe Nasr – 1’26.439

+3.803 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’26.762

+3.852 Jolyon Palmer – 1’26.811

+3.997 Kevin Magnussen – 1’26.956

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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12 comments on “Mercedes head Monza time sheets”

  1. Didn’t Rosberg set the 1:22 lap on softs on the return after the SS runs?

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      2nd September 2016, 11:22

      Rosberg set his best time of 1’22.959 which was four-tenths of a second quicker than the best time seen last year, on the soft compound tyres.

      @evered7

      1. @coldfly I need a rest :-) This was in relation to the tweet that Pirelli posted saying how the times are faster than last year’s pole but only softs were used last year.

    2. Don’t feel too bad about it @evered7, it got me confused a bit too, before I got that both of them had done runs on the SSofts, but their quickest times were set on the softs, and therefore offer a good comparison to last year’s times.

  2. Blimey, that Renault really is slow :(

  3. Its so hot here!

  4. @keithcollantine

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    1. Glad to see I’m not the only ocd one here. That nav bar has been driving me crazy!

    2. @Biggsy I think there is a page to report such problems :
      https://www.racefans.net/contact/reporting-technical-problem/

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  5. What were the top speeds? Did anyone hit 380 kph yet?

    1. No and I doubt they will.

  6. So you see, as far as Max is concerned, he has a halo over his head.

Comments are closed.