Sergio Perez, Force India, Spa-Francorchamps, 2018

Perez puts Force India on top at wet Monza

2018 Italian Grand Prix first practice

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Sergio Perez took advantage of a wet but drying track at Monza to put Force India on top of the first practice session for the Italian Grand Prix.

A dry line was beginning to emerge in the closing minutes of the session when Perez used a set of intermediates to set the quickest time with a lap of exactly 1’34.000. Team mate Esteban Ocon made it two Force Indias inside the top three, the pair separated by Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari.

Sebastian Vettel’s running in the opening session was limited to just four laps due to technical problems.

The session began on a very wet track following a lengthy downpour which began hours before the session started, and forced the cancellation of the morning’s GP3 practice.

Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg were the first drivers onto the wet track and queued at the pit exit for several minutes before the session began. Both have fresh power units fitted for this weekend.

Ricciardo ran into trouble immediately after joining the track and briefly looked as though he might come to a stop between the two Lesmo corners when his engine went into safety mode. He was able to make it back to the pits, however, and ended the session fifth fastest behind Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley.

The Mercedes drivers completed few laps and ended the session 10th and 11th. Lando Norris, the only test driver who ran in the opening 90 minutes, covered nine laps in Stoffel Vandoorne’s car and ended the session last.

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Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
111Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’34.00018
27Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’34.5500.55028
331Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1’34.5930.59317
428Brendon HartleyToro Rosso-Honda1’35.0241.02417
53Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’35.2071.20713
610Pierre GaslyToro Rosso-Honda1’35.4381.43819
733Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’35.6651.66510
855Carlos Sainz JnrRenault1’35.9951.99515
927Nico HulkenbergRenault1’36.1072.10715
1077Valtteri BottasMercedes1’36.2382.2388
1144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’36.5462.5466
1216Charles LeclercSauber-Ferrari1’36.6482.64810
1320Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1’37.0663.06613
1414Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Renault1’37.4263.42614
158Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’37.6833.68313
169Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’37.7903.79011
175Sebastian VettelFerrari1’37.8673.8674
1835Sergey SirotkinWilliams-Mercedes1’37.9293.92910
1918Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1’38.2534.2538
2047Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’38.2824.2829

First practice visual gaps

Sergio Perez – 1’34.000

+0.550 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’34.550

+0.593 Esteban Ocon – 1’34.593

+1.024 Brendon Hartley – 1’35.024

+1.207 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’35.207

+1.438 Pierre Gasly – 1’35.438

+1.665 Max Verstappen – 1’35.665

+1.995 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’35.995

+2.107 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’36.107

+2.238 Valtteri Bottas – 1’36.238

+2.546 Lewis Hamilton – 1’36.546

+2.648 Charles Leclerc – 1’36.648

+3.066 Kevin Magnussen – 1’37.066

+3.426 47 – 1’37.426

+3.683 Romain Grosjean – 1’37.683

+3.790 Marcus Ericsson – 1’37.790

+3.867 Sebastian Vettel – 1’37.867

+3.929 Sergey Sirotkin – 1’37.929

+4.253 Lance Stroll – 1’38.253

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

2018 Italian Grand Prix

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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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7 comments on “Perez puts Force India on top at wet Monza”

  1. ”Sergio Perez took advantage of a wet but trying track at Monza to put Force India on top of the first practice session for the Italian Grand Prix.”
    – I think there’s a typo in the first paragraph. I think it should read ‘drying’ instead of ‘trying.’

  2. What was Vettel problems?

    1. Too many sandbags in the cockpit

    2. @bluechris According to the Sky broadcast, Vettel had at first a spare gearbox on his car. He ran into some problems with it during the session so Ferrari decided to change it for a race gearbox. That’s why he didn’t run beyond those 4 laps.

  3. I have an opinion
    31st August 2018, 12:16

    Correction: The formula one website has Fernando Alonso in car number 14 with the time you have listed. It has Lando Norris in car number 47 (a McLaren) with a time of 1:38.282 and 20th in the standings.

  4. Always gutted for the test drivers when it rains or the car has technical issues

  5. Phenomenal performance by Perez as usual, looks set for another Monza podium if rains, what a rain master lesson today by him.

Comments are closed.