F1 Italian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2
Friday's action from the 14th round of the 2023 Formula 1 season
Live AppleTV Race Audio
Max Verstappen arrives at Monza with the chance to become the first driver in F1 history to win 10 grands prix in succession.
Sergio Perez is second in the standings but sits 138 points behind his Red Bull ream-mate.
But it is the midfield battle to be best-of-the-rest where the excitement has been found this season, with the pecking order fluctuating between Mercedes, Aston Martin, Ferrari and McLaren race-by-race.
Mercedes currently leads the best-of-the-rest battle by 40 points from Aston Martin.
FP1 begins on Friday at 12:30pm BST with FP2 following at 4:00pm BST.
But looking at this, everyone is now lapping slowly, wanting to find space without losing the tow. Get ready for Q1 tomorrow, when this always provides entertainment!
A bizarre moment between Piastri and Hamilton. The Mercedes driver was dawdling dangerously on the inside of the chicane. That will potentially be looked at by the stewards.
Medium and hard tyres appear to be favoured in this early stage, but Sargeant has gone against the grain, fitting softs to register an early qualifying simulation.
The alternate tyre format is in effect this weekend, with drivers limited to 11 sets of rubber for the weekend. This is made up of three sets of hards, four mediums and four softs.
Something that has not been often possible to say this year, there is a 0% chance of rain in the coming hour! Celebrate in whichever way you feel is appropriate!
But the topic of the weekend so far is Lewis Hamilton's new contract at Mercedes. Wolff has explained the logic behind a two-year deal over nailing the seven-time champion down to a longer deal
As revealed by Autosport earlier this week, the FIA has issued a draft technical directive stating that from the Singapore Grand Prix it is to take a tougher stance on the flexibility of bodywork – especially front and rear wings.
At least the engineers and data analysts will be busy over the lunch break, with plenty of laps and information to dig into ahead of FP2 that starts at 4pm BST.
Ocon runs off track at the exit of Ascari, while Hulkenberg and Bottas both dive out of taking the traditional line through the first corner. Oh yes, it is all happening.
Sainz has a small lock-up into the second chicane but largely gets away with it and carries on his merry way. Hopefully there is a birthday cake waiting for him in Ferrari hospitality.
Given there is no rain, sprint race schedule or other track time-eating elements to this weekend, first practice has been a steady affair as all drivers build into the Italian GP. Some might read into that as dull. We can neither confirm nor deny it.
