Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Monza, 2017

Friday practice at Monza could be a washout

2018 Italian Grand Prix weather

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Rain is expected throughout the first day of practice for the Italian Grand Prix weekend but the weather is forecast to improve after then.

While sunny conditions greeted the teams on Thursday before the track action began, clouds will gather this evening and rain is expected to start falling overnight.

Thunderstorms are expected on Friday morning, potentially running into the evening, which could disrupt teams’ efforts to conduct practice runs in the two 90-minute sessions. The risk of rain will last into the early hours of Saturday morning.

While the rain is unlikely to return after then, the lower temperatures will linger. The day will be cloudy with a low risk of further rain, and air temperatures reaching around 24C.

By Sunday the cloud will begin to clear up, though possibly not until the later afternoon, meaning conditions are unlikely to be much warmer.

Track temperatures on race day should therefore be in the high thirties. Pirelli has brought the medium, soft and super-soft tyres for this weekend.

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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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10 comments on “Friday practice at Monza could be a washout”

  1. Hmmm … it’s exactly ten years since 2008, and rain is a topic for the race weekend. Toro Rosso victory confirmed!

    1. @klon – my my, has it been a decade since that wet Vettel victory? Time flies, that win and Hamilton’s successes in 2008 were what hooked me onto F1.

    2. @klon Precisely ten years on the 14th of the month to be precise, but yes, I get your point although a Toro Rosso win is still improbable.

      1. Yes, we could as well say impossible: in recent years no more than 3 of the top 6 cars retired, 4 would be already a record and the only way to guaranteed a B team scores a podium, that could as well be a toro rosso (gasly), but all 6 top cars retiring…

        1. guarentee*

          1. guarantee**, sorry, really need the edit button!

  2. Oh no, perhaps Lewis pray too hard for Rain God that it’s now coming too early.

  3. According to F1.com, there’s no rain forecast for any of the sessions, though.

    ”After a cool Belgian Grand Prix which saw temperatures hovering around the 17 degree mark during the race, the drivers will have a hotter time of it at Monza. It’s set to be around 26 degrees across all three days of running at Monza – and while there’s no rain forecast for any of the sessions in Italy, if the showers predicted for Sunday evening arrive early, it could make for a very tasty scenario.”
    https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/features/2018/8/italy-preview-_-the-stats-and-info-you-need-to-know.html

    – Nevertheless, it’s still best to not read too much into the weather forecasts unless it’s either one of the Middle Eastern venues or Singapore for 99% of the time.

    1. Meh, there’s been few races in singapore, yet it already rained once, I’d say it’s not as unlikely as some people thought!

  4. Once again, as FIA/FOM/Liberty/whoever, if you are going to charge money for attendance, which the teams will profit from, there has to be a quid pro quo. Teams have to have some obligation to go out and give these fans their money’s worth. This is ridiculous.

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