Valtteri Bottas topped the first practice session for the Italian Grand Prix, with a lap of 1’20.703. His Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton was second-fastest on a 1’20.948 while Alexander Albon, who looked strong during the whole session, led all four Honda-powered cars behind them.
The session started slowly, with Albon taking fastest timed lap, nearly a second ahead of Verstappen during the first half. His 1’22.280, on medium tyres, was good enough initially that only Bottas, also on mediums, was within half a second until cars started running on the soft tyre.Max Verstappen spun into the gravel at Ascari, going in backwards and coming to a dead halt. He was able to get the car out again – something repeated almost exactly by fellow Honda driver Pierre Gasly, in the AlphaTauri, during the last minutes of the session, at the Variante della Roggia. Verstappen’s spin caused a brief red flag.
Despite the Red Bull times – or at least, Albon’s – looking initially competitive with the Mercedes, by the end of the session Bottas and Hamilton were seven-tenths up of the Honda powered cars and Verstappen was beaten by Daniil Kvyat, despite the AlphaTauri cars both setting their fastest laps on mediums.
The top ten was rounded out by Sergio Perez, both McLarens and Daniel Ricciardo. The fastest Ferrari-powered car was Charles Leclerc, in 11th and over a second off the front pace.
Roy Nissany made his second practice appearance for Williams, again borrowing George Russell’s car, and ended the session 18th. Sebastian Vettel endured a repeat of Spa’s miserable Ferrari performances, ending the session 19th ahead of Nicholas Latifi.
Multiple drivers were warned about track limits during the session, with Ascari and Parabolica both getting mentioned repeatedly to drivers under threat of having lap times deleted in later sessions.
No cars suffered major technical problems, although Kevin Magnussen’s session ended slightly early with a cooling problem in the final ten minutes. Ricciardo and Russell have both taken replacement power unit parts this weekend, with both replacing the internal combustion engine, MGU-H and turbocharger and Ricciardo also replacing the MGU-K.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2020 Italian Grand Prix First Practice classification
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’20.703 | 28 | |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’20.948 | 0.245 | 27 |
| 3 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’21.500 | 0.797 | 30 |
| 4 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’21.555 | 0.852 | 31 |
| 5 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’21.641 | 0.938 | 22 |
| 6 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1’21.667 | 0.964 | 27 |
| 7 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’21.747 | 1.044 | 25 |
| 8 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’21.747 | 1.044 | 29 |
| 9 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’21.789 | 1.086 | 22 |
| 10 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’21.821 | 1.118 | 27 |
| 11 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’21.904 | 1.201 | 25 |
| 12 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 1’21.984 | 1.281 | 28 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’22.131 | 1.428 | 21 |
| 14 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’22.409 | 1.706 | 20 |
| 15 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’22.422 | 1.719 | 19 |
| 16 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’22.552 | 1.849 | 24 |
| 17 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’22.619 | 1.916 | 27 |
| 18 | 40 | Roy Nissany | Williams-Mercedes | 1’22.826 | 2.123 | 25 |
| 19 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’22.988 | 2.285 | 24 |
| 20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1’23.120 | 2.417 | 22 |
First practice visual gaps
Valtteri Bottas – 1’20.703
+0.245 Lewis Hamilton – 1’20.948
+0.797 Alexander Albon – 1’21.500
+0.852 Daniil Kvyat – 1’21.555
+0.938 Max Verstappen – 1’21.641
+0.964 Pierre Gasly – 1’21.667
+1.044 Sergio Perez – 1’21.747
+1.044 Lando Norris – 1’21.747
+1.086 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’21.789
+1.118 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’21.821
+1.201 Charles Leclerc – 1’21.904
+1.281 Esteban Ocon – 1’21.984
+1.428 Lance Stroll – 1’22.131
+1.706 Romain Grosjean – 1’22.409
+1.719 Kevin Magnussen – 1’22.422
+1.849 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’22.552
+1.916 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’22.619
+2.123 Roy Nissany – 1’22.826
+2.285 Sebastian Vettel – 1’22.988
+2.417 Nicholas Latifi – 1’23.120
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2020 Italian Grand Prix
- Grosjean “obviously jealous” but pleased for Gasly after win
- 2020 Italian Grand Prix Star Performers
- Gasly: I’m ready for Red Bull return
- Ban on ‘quali mode’ reduced overtaking at Monza – Hamilton
- Gasly beats Sainz in closest F1 finish for 10 years
Chaitanya
4th September 2020, 12:17
That gap is ominous if its the trend for other sessions and rest of season.
Andrey Baydin (@minilemm)
4th September 2020, 12:23
I don’t mean to be mean, but I think you’re late to the party.
Chaitanya
4th September 2020, 12:38
Mercedes never showed their full pace until Qualifying session 2.
petebaldwin (@)
4th September 2020, 15:11
The only hope is that perhaps they are testing out the modes they can use on their engine and are therefore going closer to their quicker pace in practice than they would usually do.
I wouldn’t say it’s ominous though – they are already winning every race extremely easily unless they run into troubles with their tyres so it would be a big surprise if it didn’t remain that way.
tony mansell
4th September 2020, 12:27
They don’t switch off party mode till qually. Ive not given up hope yet. Will probably do by tmrw teatime
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
4th September 2020, 12:31
I don’t think any teams use their max engine mode in free practice. Why would they put extra strain on the engine for sessions that don’t count for anything? Wolff said that the damage caused to the engine with 5 laps of ‘qualy’ mode was equivalent to 25 laps of normal race running, so doing any laps using that mode in free practice would be counterproductive.
BOSS
4th September 2020, 13:36
Spot on
anon
4th September 2020, 12:31
tony mansell, why would there be any incentive for the teams to use their most aggressive power unit modes in practice when it would be actively hindering them in the race to do so?
Steve (@scbriml)
4th September 2020, 12:32
Why would Mercedes run “party mode” in FP1, knowing full well they can’t use it come qualifying and the race? Makes no sense.
Zann (@zann)
4th September 2020, 14:08
This is exactly why the gap is ominous tony mansell: everyone is in the same lazy breakfast mode, presumably
Rott
4th September 2020, 17:47
You are hopeless. Lol.
DAllein (@)
4th September 2020, 12:18
Oh dear! Everyone is further behind!
What a shock!
Qeki (@qeki)
4th September 2020, 12:19
Oh Vettel..
GechiChan (@gechichan)
4th September 2020, 12:47
a new low for him, behind Roy Nissany… oh my
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
4th September 2020, 14:14
It’s all part of the plan.
Fans are allowed in again at Mugello next week, but they don’t want to attract too many…
Luke S (@joeypropane)
4th September 2020, 13:12
Seb being a full second by Charles is not normal or correct – Ferrari must be rocking up every weekend and just saying “you figure it out, we’re not helping anymore”… Kinda like they do during the races when it comes to pit stops and strategy.
It’s really sad to watch Ferrari waste so much talent over the years, I honestly hope they spend the next few years being seriously humbled by the mid-field and the likes of Leclerc and Sainz start utilising break clauses (if you don’t put some break clauses in your Ferrari contract, you’ve been failed by your manager). Would be real comeuppance to see them having to take on no-name pay drivers.
Rockgod (@rockgod)
4th September 2020, 13:27
Or may be this year’s Ferrari is exposing all the weaknesses that Vettel had all along: both the racing skills and mental skills by being unable to cope with not given “Number 1” status in the team.
Chaitanya
4th September 2020, 14:01
And how he was dropped by the team showed him real motives so other than performing the best since he is on payroll why shouldnt he show his frustration towards the management? Atleast he is keeping his mouth shut so far.
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
4th September 2020, 18:50
This is the correct view, Ferrari are not sabotaging VET, VET has been sabotaging himself and Ferrari for years
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
4th September 2020, 13:47
Just think of the points and prize money that other teams lost last year due to Ferrari’s rule breaking.
John H (@john-h)
4th September 2020, 14:08
Albon 2.0?