Final practice for the Italian Grand Prix raised expectations of an exciting qualifying session as Sebastian Vettel led championship rival Lewis Hamilton by less than a tenth of a second.
Vettel gave the Ferrari fans at Monza plenty to cheer about when he set the quickest lap time of the weekend so far with a best effort of 1’20.509. Last year’s pole sitter Hamilton went just 0.081s slower and was visibly pushing, skimming the gravel at the exit of the Variante della Roggia chicane.
Kimi Raikkonen backed Vettel up in third place but Valtteri Bottas was a distant fourth in his Mercedes. Max Verstappen, who has been pessimistic about Red Bull’s chances at the power circuit, got within nine-tenths of a second of Vettel.It was similarly close between Ferrari and Mercedes’ customer teams. Kevin Magnussen headed the midfield charge with a best of 1’22.011 in his Haas, four-hundredths of a second ahead of Esteban Ocon’s Force India-Mercedes. They bumped Daniel Ricciardo down to eighth.
An unhappy Romain Grosjean, who complained about being held up by Brendon Hartley and only completed one clean lap, took 10th place behind Charles Leclerc. Marcus Ericsson was back in action in the other Sauber but faces a 10-place grid penalty as the team had to change the engine in his car following yesterday’s violent crash. He set the 16th-fastest time.
The session began on a largely dry track with some damp patches. Conditions improved throughout the hour of running. McLaren were among the first to take to the track but the Renault-powered team were out-paced by their nine rivals.
Among the two cars which finished behind the McLarens was the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg. He had to pit during the session when his DRS jammed open, not unlike the fault which caused Ericsson’s crash yesterday.
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| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’20.509 | 18 | |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’20.590 | 0.081 | 14 |
| 3 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’20.682 | 0.173 | 16 |
| 4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’21.112 | 0.603 | 18 |
| 5 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’21.388 | 0.879 | 15 |
| 6 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’22.011 | 1.502 | 15 |
| 7 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’22.055 | 1.546 | 16 |
| 8 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’22.310 | 1.801 | 15 |
| 9 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’22.313 | 1.804 | 17 |
| 10 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’22.357 | 1.848 | 16 |
| 11 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’22.486 | 1.977 | 13 |
| 12 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’22.631 | 2.122 | 20 |
| 13 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’22.737 | 2.228 | 15 |
| 14 | 35 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’22.778 | 2.269 | 20 |
| 15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’22.860 | 2.351 | 19 |
| 16 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’22.882 | 2.373 | 25 |
| 17 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’22.892 | 2.383 | 23 |
| 18 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’22.987 | 2.478 | 16 |
| 19 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’23.149 | 2.640 | 10 |
| 20 | 28 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’23.164 | 2.655 | 19 |
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Third practice visual gaps
Sebastian Vettel – 1’20.509
+0.081 Lewis Hamilton – 1’20.590
+0.173 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’20.682
+0.603 Valtteri Bottas – 1’21.112
+0.879 Max Verstappen – 1’21.388
+1.502 Kevin Magnussen – 1’22.011
+1.546 Esteban Ocon – 1’22.055
+1.801 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’22.310
+1.804 Charles Leclerc – 1’22.313
+1.848 Romain Grosjean – 1’22.357
+1.977 Sergio Perez – 1’22.486
+2.122 Pierre Gasly – 1’22.631
+2.228 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’22.737
+2.269 Sergey Sirotkin – 1’22.778
+2.351 Lance Stroll – 1’22.860
+2.373 Marcus Ericsson – 1’22.882
+2.383 Fernando Alonso – 1’22.892
+2.478 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’22.987
+2.640 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’23.149
+2.655 Brendon Hartley – 1’23.164
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’37.867 | 1’21.105 | 1’20.509 | -0.596 | 49 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’36.546 | 1’21.392 | 1’20.590 | -0.802 | 51 |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’34.550 | 1’21.375 | 1’20.682 | -0.693 | 75 |
| 4 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’36.238 | 1’21.803 | 1’21.112 | -0.691 | 61 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’35.665 | 1’22.154 | 1’21.388 | -0.766 | 53 |
| 6 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’37.066 | 1’23.233 | 1’22.011 | -1.222 | 56 |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’34.593 | 1’22.930 | 1’22.055 | -0.875 | 63 |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’35.207 | 1’22.296 | 1’22.310 | +0.014 | 56 |
| 9 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’36.648 | 1’22.965 | 1’22.313 | -0.652 | 47 |
| 10 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’37.683 | 1’23.077 | 1’22.357 | -0.72 | 60 |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’34.000 | 1’22.942 | 1’22.486 | -0.456 | 63 |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’35.438 | 1’23.402 | 1’22.631 | -0.771 | 73 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’35.995 | 1’23.193 | 1’22.737 | -0.456 | 62 |
| 14 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 1’37.929 | 1’23.514 | 1’22.778 | -0.736 | 58 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’38.253 | 1’23.566 | 1’22.860 | -0.706 | 56 |
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’37.790 | 1’22.882 | -14.908 | 38 | |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 1’37.426 | 1’23.741 | 1’22.892 | -0.849 | 60 |
| 18 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Renault | 1’24.084 | 1’22.987 | -1.097 | 46 | |
| 19 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’36.107 | 1’23.063 | 1’23.149 | +0.086 | 55 |
| 20 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’35.024 | 1’23.531 | 1’23.164 | -0.367 | 52 |
| 21 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’38.282 | 9 |
2018 Italian Grand Prix
- Grosjean’s Monza disqualification upheld by FIA Appeal Court
- Haas rival rubbishes ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ claim
- Ferrari driver change was “the right choice for Kimi” – Arrivabene
- Verstappen: Other drivers got away with worse at Monza
- Renault broke agreement with Grosjean protest – Haas
Jere (@jerejj)
1st September 2018, 12:20
The second time DRS has got stuck open on Hulkenberg’s car (with the Japanese GP last season being the first example of that.)
erikje
1st September 2018, 12:40
And this free practice both RBR used the spec C.
Let’s hope it brings some extra speed.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
1st September 2018, 12:54
I’m extremely impressed to see Ericsson within half a second despite FP1 raining away and his crash in FP2.
Philip (@philipgb)
1st September 2018, 13:10
They need to introduce a fine or penalty for DRS failure similar to releasing cars from the pit lane without the wheels on properly.
Obviously with an exception for cars that have suffered a collision, but they’re clearly pushing the limits of the DRS engineering either for weight or speed of operation and these failures are happening too often.