Bottas fronts Mercedes 1-2, Verstappen crashes in Italy FP1

Mercedes led the way during opening practice for Formula 1’s Italian Grand Prix, which was briefly interrupted when Max Verstappen suffered a minor crash.

In a season in which they have largely dominated Valtteri Bottas clocked a time of 1:20.703 in warm and sunny conditions on Friday at the high-speed Monza circuit.

Bottas’ time left him 0.245s clear of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton after the opening 90 minutes of running.

Mercedes once again enjoyed a sizeable margin at the front of the pack as third-placed Alexander Albon classified 0.797s behind Bottas.

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Verstappen suffers minor prang

Approaching the 40-mintute mark, when teams traditionally return to the pits to give back a set of tyres, Verstappen lost control of the RB16 through the Ascari chicane.

Verstappen spun through the right-hand curve and bounced over the inside kerb prior to swiping the front end of the car against the exit barriers.

The session was halted but Verstappen was able to drag the car out of the gravel trap and return it to the pits, minus its front wing.

Verstappen was able to return to the circuit within half an hour of his off and finished fifth, two-tenths behind his Red Bull team-mate

AlphaTauri flexes its muscles

AlphaTauri has emerged as Italy’s strongest Formula 1 team in recent weeks amid Ferrari’s ongoing struggle for performance.

Under its Toro Rosso guise it famously won the rain-soaked 2008 race at Monza with Sebastian Vettel but on Friday morning its AT01 displayed eye-catching speed.

Daniil Kvyat, whose future has come under scrutiny due to the form of Red Bull/Honda protégé Yuki Tsunoda in Formula 2, finished fourth, using Medium tyres, as opposed to the Softs employed by the top three.

That pace was reinforced by Pierre Gasly as the Frenchman classified sixth, also on Medium rubber, to leave AlphaTauri as the third-fastest team in the early stages of the weekend.

It wasn’t all plain sailing as Gasly spun through the second chicane in the closing moments but he was able to recover his AT01 to the track.

AlphaTauri fronted the midfield group that it has typically clung to the back of during most of 2020, with Racing Point and McLaren next up.

The teams proved inseparable as Sergio Perez and Lando Norris clocked identical times to wind up seventh and eighth respectively.

Lead Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo was a mere 0.042s further back in ninth while Carlos Sainz Jr. rounded out the top 10.

Ferrari slow again

No Ferrari-powered car featured in the top 10 as the manufacturer’s straight-line speed deficit was brutally exposed on home soil.

That Medium-shod Charles Leclerc placed 11th, within a tenth of his future team-mate, and fared better than at any stage last weekend in Belgium showed how far Ferrari has fallen.

It was worse for Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel finished down in 19th, having also understeered wide through the Lesmo gravel, classifying in front of only Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, and behind the team’s test driver Roy Nissany, who drove George Russell’s car.

Leclerc’s lap left Ferrari as the seventh-fastest team a year on from his pole position and victory at the venue.

Haas finished a tenth up on Alfa Romeo in the battle between the customer Ferrari teams though lose some track time while it investigated a suspected cooling issue on Kevin Magnussen’s car.

Friday’s second practice session will begin at 15:00 local time.