Hamilton Tops Practice for 2024 Italian GP

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton topped Friday Practice for 2024 Italian Grand Prix. 

Hamilton finished seventh in FP1 topped by Max Verstappen but emerged quickest in FP2 from Lando Norris by 0.003 seconds, on a positive day of running in hot conditions at Monza.

 

FP1

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were first out on track but it was Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg who set the initial benchmark time, as the German posted 1m 28.287 in the fourth minute on medium tyres.

Mercedes’ rookie FP1 driver, Andrea Kimi Antonelli soon set the pace with 1m 23.905 on the soft tyre, once 17 drivers set their first representative lap time.

His teammate, Lewis Hamilton however improved to 1m 23.350 on his second flier to go fastest, but Antonelli got oversteer into the Parabolica on his attempt to respond and ultimately spun out of the session to cause a red flag in the 10th minute.

The session resumed 14 minutes later with Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas unexpectedly setting the benchmark time of 1m 22.416, which he lowered by 0.289s on his next flier.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc however set 1m 21.904 with 12 minutes left to go quickest from McLaren’s Lando Norris by 0.013 seconds.

Verstappen however left it until the 54th minute to set a session-topping 1m 21.676 from Leclerc and Norris, as everyone except Ricciardo and Hulkenberg set their times on the soft tyre whilst the latter pair did their fastest laps on the medium tyre.

Williams’ new rookie driver, Franco Colapinto finished 17th quickest in his first official session as a F1 driver, having previously drove just in FP1 at this year’s British GP.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1m 21.676
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.228
3	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.241
4	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+ 0.450
5	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	+ 0.451
6	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.523
7	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+ 0.538
8	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 0.544
9	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+ 0.635
10	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 0.639
11	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 0.896
12	Daniel Ricciardo	RB	+ 0.929
13	Yuki Tsunoda	RB	+ 1.038
14	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 1.087
15	Guanyu Zhou	Sauber	+ 1.178
16	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 1.188
17	Franco Colapinto	Williams	+ 1.204
18	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+ 1.204
19	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	+ 1.481
20	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 2.279

 

FP2

Ocon was first out on track and set 1m 22.776 as the benchmark time as many drivers opted for medium tyres in their opening stints, but he was soon displaced by Hamilton on 1m 21.641 in the fifth minute.

Norris five minutes later went quicker by 0.036s but Sainz then Leclerc displaced the pair by the quarter-of-a-hour mark, as the Monegasque topped the opening stint with 1m 21.119 from his teammate.

Teams soon put the soft tyres on with Piastri first to beat Leclerc’s time with 1m 20.858, which Norris bettered by 0.007s on his first soft-tyre flier.

Hamilton however found time in the 27th minute to go quickest with 1m 20.738 to top the session from Norris, as the McLaren fell 0.003s short.

Magnussen however caused the single red flag of the session with a crash at the second Lesmo Curve in the 31st minute, but he escaped unharmed from the incident.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m 20.738
2	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.003
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+ 0.103
4	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.120
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.154
6	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.348
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	+ 0.402
8	Daniel Ricciardo	RB	+ 0.562
9	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 0.578
10	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 0.625
11	Valtteri Bottas	Haas	+ 0.723
12	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 0.761
13	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 0.854
14	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.872
15	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+ 0.940
16	Yuki Tsunoda	Williams	+ 0.997
17	Franco Colapinto	Williams	+ 1.046
18	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 1.081
19	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+ 1.407
20	Guanyu Zhou	Sauber	+ 1.485