Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jnr set the pace in final practice for the Italian Grand Prix but was warned over an incident with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
Sainz set the best time of the weekend so far with a 1’20.912, just under a tenth of a second quicker than Max Verstappen with Lewis Hamilton third. However, Sainz was shown a black-and-white warning flag by the stewards after making slight contact with Piastri at the Rettifilo chicane while on a cooldown lap.Drivers were once again treated to a dry track and clear conditions as the final hour of practice began. Lance Stroll, who had been unable to set a single lap time on Friday, was quick to get out onto the track for his first laps of the weekend.
After all drivers had worked to limit their tyre usage during the opening two practice sessions, the majority of the field fitted the soft compound for their first extended runs on the theoretically fastest tyre of the weekend.
Sergio Perez set the early benchmark with a 1’22.662, until he was beaten by a tenth-and-a-half by Lando Norris in the McLaren. Verstappen was one of the last drivers out on the track to complete their first flying laps, but he immediately went quickest of all with a 1’21.838. After a pair of cooldown laps, Verstappen improved by over a tenth to go half a second clear at the top of the times ahead of team mate Perez, who had also improved to second.
After an initial rush of drivers setting fast push laps, teams quickly turned their focus to higher fuel runs with Sunday in mind. However, Alexander Albon put his Williams into second place on the medium tyres, four tenths slower than Verstappen’s best.
Traffic remained a concern. Norris caught up to Zhou Guanyu in between the two Lesmos and avoided the Alfa Romeo by driving along the kerb between the two corners. Zhou was shown the black-and-white warning flag for the incident.
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Meanwhile Norris’s team mate Oscar Piastri had a trip across the gravel on the exit of the Roggia chicane. The McLaren drivers ended the session towards the bottom of the times.
Hamilton took a new set of soft tyres with around 15 minutes remaining of the session and posted the fastest time of the weekend up to that point with a 1’21.453.But that was soon beaten comfortably by Verstappen, who broke the 1’21 barrier to go almost half a second clear at the top.
In the final ten minutes, Sainz returned Ferrari to the top of the times with a fresh set of soft tyres to go 0.086s faster than Verstappen. However, he was involved in an incident with Piastri at the Rettifilo chicane.
The Ferrari driver appeared not to realise the McLaren was behind him on a flying lap and turned into the left-hand part of the chicane with Piastri alongside. The pair made minor contact and Piastri called for Sainz to be penalised for the contact, but the stewards instead showed him a black-and-white warning flag.
The final minutes of the session completed without any further improvements, leaving Sainz as the quickest driver for the second straight session. Verstappen was less than a tenth slower in second place, with Hamilton third fastest for Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc was fourth in the second Ferrari, ahead of Fernanodo Alonso, George Russell and the two Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg seventh and eighth, respectively. Albon was ninth with Perez completing the top ten in tenth, having set out the last third of the session with a suspected fuel leak.
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2023 Italian Grand Prix third practice result
| Position | Number | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | SF-23 | 1’20.912 | 22 | |
| 2 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB19 | 1’20.998 | 0.086 | 23 |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W14 | 1’21.453 | 0.541 | 22 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-23 | 1’21.486 | 0.574 | 22 |
| 5 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR23 | 1’21.711 | 0.799 | 24 |
| 6 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W14 | 1’21.730 | 0.818 | 24 |
| 7 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | VF-23 | 1’21.884 | 0.972 | 21 |
| 8 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | VF-23 | 1’21.985 | 1.073 | 27 |
| 9 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW45 | 1’22.054 | 1.142 | 17 |
| 10 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB19 | 1’22.192 | 1.280 | 16 |
| 11 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR23 | 1’22.245 | 1.333 | 31 |
| 12 | 40 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | AT04 | 1’22.296 | 1.384 | 28 |
| 13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | AT04 | 1’22.297 | 1.385 | 27 |
| 14 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL60 | 1’22.302 | 1.390 | 17 |
| 15 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | FW45 | 1’22.380 | 1.468 | 22 |
| 16 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | C43 | 1’22.511 | 1.599 | 29 |
| 17 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL60 | 1’22.515 | 1.603 | 23 |
| 18 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | A523 | 1’22.739 | 1.827 | 19 |
| 19 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | C43 | 1’22.742 | 1.830 | 29 |
| 20 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | A523 | 1’22.852 | 1.940 | 21 |
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2023 Italian Grand Prix combined practice times
| Position | Number | Driver | Team | FP1 time | FP2 time | FP3 time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 1’22.703 | 1’21.355 | 1’20.912 | 1 | |
| 2 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | 1’22.657 | 1’21.631 | 1’20.998 | 0.086 | 5 |
| 3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’23.241 | 1’21.374 | 1’22.515 | 0.462 | 2 |
| 4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’23.269 | 1’22.783 | 1’21.453 | 0.541 | 17 |
| 5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’22.966 | 1’21.716 | 1’21.486 | 0.574 | 6 |
| 6 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | 1’22.834 | 1’21.540 | 1’22.192 | 0.628 | 3 |
| 7 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’23.446 | 1’21.545 | 1’22.302 | 0.633 | 4 |
| 8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’23.214 | 1’22.071 | 1’21.711 | 0.799 | 8 |
| 9 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1’23.189 | 1’22.176 | 1’21.730 | 0.818 | 9 |
| 10 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’24.217 | 1’22.574 | 1’21.884 | 0.972 | 11 |
| 11 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1’23.444 | 1’21.979 | 1’22.054 | 1.067 | 7 |
| 12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | 1’24.067 | 1’22.291 | 1’21.985 | 1.073 | 10 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | No time | 1’22.245 | 1.333 | ||
| 14 | 40 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | 1’23.833 | 1’23.167 | 1’22.296 | 1.384 | 18 |
| 15 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | 1’23.271 | 1’22.696 | 1’22.297 | 1.385 | 14 |
| 16 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | 1’23.661 | 1’22.755 | 1’22.380 | 1.468 | 16 |
| 17 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’23.952 | 1’22.595 | 1’22.511 | 1.599 | 12 |
| 18 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | 1’23.931 | 1’22.651 | 1’22.852 | 1.739 | 13 |
| 19 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1’24.090 | 1’22.716 | 1’22.739 | 1.804 | 15 |
| 20 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’24.232 | 1’23.346 | 1’22.742 | 1.830 | 19 |
| 21 | 34 | Felipe Drugovich | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1’24.140 | 3.228 | 20 |
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2023 Italian Grand Prix
- Despite close battles at Monza, F1 drivers want more powerful DRS
- Monza “frustrating” for Alonso but Aston Martin expect better form in coming races
- F1 changed rules to stop Mercedes in 2021 but we won’t ‘cry foul’ now – Wolff
- McLaren will bring ‘follow-up to Austria upgrade’ before focusing on 2024 car
- Magnussen explains why his driving style rarely works with the Haas VF-23
Jere (@jerejj)
2nd September 2023, 12:53
Yuki’s radio rants are funny once again & Carlos again manages to block Oscar.
Black-&-white flag use in a practice session is extremely rare, though.
MichaelN
2nd September 2023, 13:04
Football has the right idea with its Dissent rules; let the referees/stewards do their job. Don’t moan to get others penalized; that’s not your job.
That said, Ferrari has way too many of these incidents. Its pitwall is not doing a good enough job to inform the drivers.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
3rd September 2023, 3:16
The problem is stewards in f1 too often let things go unless they’re reported, you can’t let them do their job cause they don’t do it, I’ve seen countless times stuff being reported and then “oh, this is indeed penalty worthy”, just think about austria and the track limits this year.