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F1 Italian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying
Updates from the Saturday practice and qualifying at Monza for the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix
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Max Verstappen comes into the final European race of the season on red-hot form with four consecutive wins, which has seen him stretch his F1 world championship lead to 109 points.
It means the pressure increases on home favourites Ferrari and Charles Leclerc who need a strong performance after a tough run of races.
A host of F1 drivers will take grid penalties into the race, headlined by Lewis Hamilton who will start from the back of the grid for taking an new power unit, while Verstappen takes a five-place grid drop.
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Hamilton now moves up to eighth, ahead of Zhou and just behind team-mate Russell.
Perez remains fourth for now, but behind him there's been a fair amount of reshuffling from drivers that bolted on softs. Alonso is still fifth, ahead of Norris, Russell, Zhou, Latifi and Gasly.
Sainz does indeed improve, but is slower by 0.025s than Verstappen's earlier effort on the mediums. Leclerc meanwhile aborts his first lap after a big moment at the second chicane.
The Red Bulls are staying home, so the first improvements are likely to come from the Ferraris.
Mick Schumacher is also getting ready to jump into his Haas after the mechanics uncovered a clutch issue before the session that required fixing.
It looks like the vast majority of drivers are switching to softs for the final stage as we prepare for qualifying later on.
It's another PB for De Vries, a 1m24.708s, but he stays in 18th before coming to the pits after a 10-lap run.
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We've yet to see any time attacks on softs from any of the top drivers. Will that change in the final 20 minutes of practice?
De Vries improves again to a 1m24.790s, still on the mediums with which he had that little excursion. He's currently just logging laps to prepare for tomorrow, with most of the field in the garage at the moment.
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Alonso is currently the best of the rest in fifth, with Gasly, Hamilton, Norris, Ocon and Tsunoda seeing out the top 10.
Sainz goes for another lap, but isn't able to improve and remains seven tenths down on Verstappen and his team-mate, Perez still third 0.2s behind the lead Red Bull.
"Traffic paradise," dryly observes Bottas as he has to lift on the run to the first chicane with cars scattered left and right. Q1 is going to be messy later.
De Vries had a little gravelly moment in the Aston at Ascari yesterday and now has found the kitty litter again as the back steps out on his Williams through Lesmo 1. He's still working his way towards the limit.
After complaining about Russell earlier, Verstappen has encountered the Briton again as the Mercedes slowed between the two Lesmo corners. Verstappen followed Alonso past on the exit of the second right-hander, before powering past the Alpine on the blast towards Ascari.
Sainz has now been placed under investigation after the earlier near miss with Bottas. I can only see that ending one way, unfortunately for the Spaniard.
De Vries's first lap is a 1m25.367s, putting him 1.2s behind his team-mate - who set his time on softs.
For those interested, the Dutchman is running #45. He had #34 on his Aston Martin yesterday.
De Vries now emerges from the pits, and is given a set of the medium tyres.
Leclerc moves into second, with a 1m21.944s, just 0.072s behind Verstappen, before coming into the pits.
No sign yet in the session of De Vries, who is at least in the cockpit of his Williams. Wonder if the team had to go down to Aston Martin and ask to borrow his seat?
Hairy moment there for Bottas, who locks both front wheels into Turn 1 as he stamps on the anchors to avoid Sainz, who is dawdling in the middle of the road after his timed lap. "Pretty close," is the cool Finn's report on the radio.
Alonso has won twice at Monza, in 2007 and 2010, and he now jumps into fourth on the medium - before being shuffled back a spot by Sainz.
Leclerc goes third with his first run on mediums, 0.598s down on Verstappen. Meanwhile Norris goes fifth, just behind Tsunoda.
Verstappen now goes top on a 1m21.872s, ahead of Perez and Tsunoda. Now the Ferraris are out and eager to put their stamp on proceedings.
With Ocon's engine change confirmed, here is the updated list of drivers who will have grid penalties this weekend:
- Verstappen - 5
- Ocon - 5
- Perez - 10
- Bottas - 15
- Sainz - back of the grid
- Hamilton - back of the grid
- Tsunoda - back of the grid
Verstappen wasn't especially happy with Russell there, complaining over the radio: "What is this?" I expect that won't be the last traffic complaint we hear today.
With his first timed effort on the medium, Russell goes fourth behind Perez (medium), Bottas (soft), Tsunoda (hard).
We won't know for sure. Verstappen was 0.167s down on Perez at the second split before encountering Russell's Mercedes in Ascari and duly backs off.
His team-mate Verstappen has now joined the fray, also on medium tyres. What can he produce with his first timed lap of the session?
Perez is at least giving us something to watch as he goes quicker again in the Red Bull, shaving his best time down to a 1m22.148s.
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Tsunoda becomes just the third driver to post a time, a 1m25.225s on the hard tyres. It's been a fairly quiet start to the session all told.
Perez winds up another flyer and improves his time, posting a 1m22.611s.
With his second attempt at a first push lap on softs, Bottas is slower than Perez and clocks a 1m24.244s.
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So it's Perez who sets the first representative time, a 1m23.448s.
Bottas was going for a flying lap, but makes a mistake and locks up at the second chicane which prompts him to abort.
Bottas is on the softs, and Perez emerges on mediums. Everyone else so far is on hards.
By: autosport.com
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