Published on 04 September 2020 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen clocked the fifth fastest lap in the opening practice session of the Italian Grand Prix, despite a crash at the halfway mark. Quickest around Monza was Mercedes, with Valtteri Bottas ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

FP1 is off to a slow start. It is not until twenty minutes into the session that the first Formula 1 car steers onto the iconic highspeed Monza circuit; it’s Kimi Raikkonen in the Alfa Romeo.

Soon after, the rest of the teams follow suit and Max clocks his first flying lap. On the hard Pirelli tyre, Max opens his account with a 1:22.3, followed by a 1:21.9, propelling him to P2.

At the halfway mark, Max loses the rear of his car in the middle of Ascari. Despite a frontal hit with the tyre barriers bringing the RB16 to a stop, Max can nurse the car back to the pits. 22 minutes later, Max is back on track after a stellar repair job from his Aston Martin Red Bull Racing crew.

In the final half an hour, the times drop due to drivers opting to run the soft Pirelli compound. The Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton set the pace. Max clocks a 1:21.6, in the end the fifth quickest lap of the session.

In the closing stages, several drivers struggle to stay on track with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel going wide at the first Lesmo, Bottas missing the second chicane and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly cruising through the gravel traps. All three escape any serious damage apart from bruised egos, to bring to a close the first free practice session.

Italian GP contest: win the grey Max Verstappen cap!

Results first free practice Italy:

pos	driver	team	time	gap	laps
1	Valtteri Bottas	BOT	Mercedes	1:20.703		28
2	Lewis Hamilton	HAM	Mercedes	1:20.948	+0.245s	27
3	Alexander Albon	ALB	Red Bull Racing Honda	1:21.500	+0.797s	30
4	Daniil Kvyat	KVY	AlphaTauri Honda	1:21.555	+0.852s	31
5	Max Verstappen	VER	Red Bull Racing Honda	1:21.641	+0.938s	22
6	Pierre Gasly	GAS	AlphaTauri Honda	1:21.667	+0.964s	27
7	Sergio Perez	PER	Racing Point BWT Mercedes	1:21.747	+1.044s	25
8	Lando Norris	NOR	McLaren Renault	1:21.747	+1.044s	29
9	Daniel Ricciardo	RIC	Renault	1:21.789	+1.086s	22
10	Carlos Sainz	SAI	McLaren Renault	1:21.821	+1.118s	27
11	Charles Leclerc	LEC	Ferrari	1:21.904	+1.201s	25
12	Esteban Ocon	OCO	Renault	1:21.984	+1.281s	28
13	Lance Stroll	STR	Racing Point BWT Mercedes	1:22.131	+1.428s	21
14	Romain Grosjean	GRO	Haas Ferrari	1:22.409	+1.706s	20
15	Kevin Magnussen	MAG	Haas Ferrari	1:22.422	+1.719s	19
16	Antonio Giovinazzi	GIO	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	1:22.552	+1.849s	24
17	Kimi Räikkönen	RAI	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	1:22.619	+1.916s	27
18	Roy Nissany	NIS	Williams Mercedes	1:22.826	+2.123s	25
19	Sebastian Vettel	VET	Ferrari	1:22.988	+2.285s	24
20	Nicholas Latifi	LAT	Williams Mercedes	1:23.120	+2.417s	22