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Italian GP
F1 Italian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 and Qualifying
The first practice session and qualifying for the sprint race at Monza
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Meanwhile Vettel makes a bit of a porridge of Turn 1, carrying too much speed and locking the right-front as he desperately attempts to make the corner, running deep through the right-hander and compromising his line for the left-hand exit. Messy one that.
Gasly punches in a 1m22.028s, just 0.025s slower than Ricciardo's benchmark. Who will be the first one into the 1m21s bracket?
We anticipate the answer to that could be a Red Bull driver, as both Perez and Verstappen have now switched to softs.
Norris now goes third on a 1m22.103s, so it's currently a McLaren 1-3 with Gasly's AlphaTauri sandwiched in-between.
Perez improves, but only manages a 1m22.039s to slot him ahead of Norris. Instead, the first man into the 1m21s bracket is Bottas - who had been having a quiet session up to that point and had slipped down to P16. He rectifies that by going P1 with a 1m21.451s on the medium tyres.
But no sooner have we finished typing than Verstappen usurps the Finn on his soft rubber, the Red Bull championship leader setting a 1m21.378s.
Leclerc has had a second lap struck off for track limits at Parabolica - Alonso joining him on the naughty step with two deleted in succession.
Hamilton now retakes top spot with a 1m20.926s - still on medium tyres, intriguingly. Just 15 minutes of FP1 to go.
Russell sets a new PB but his 1m23.230s is only enough for P15. He appeared to be somewhat baulked by Hamilton on the approach to Ascari, but pressed on regardless.
We've still yet to see what the Mercedes have got to offer on the soft tyres. For now, Hamilton and Bottas are continuing to pound around on the medium.
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Having been right at the sharp end for most of the session, Perez has fallen back to P6 and is over a second down on Hamilton. In fact, between Ricciardo in fourth and Stroll in P15 there's less than a second.
Medium-shod Alonso inches to the head of the best-of-the-rest pack on a 1m21.926s, but a flurry of soft tyre times immediately knock him back to P7. Stroll is now P4, ahead of Gasly, Vettel and Alonso.
It's a 1m21.676s for Stroll, who remember had a decent shot of winning this race last year with only the soon-to-be-penalised Hamilton ahead of him following the restart - but he blew the braking zone for Turn 1 and dropped back.
The McLarens were rapid last year at Monza and with the addition of Mercedes power, the papaya cars look to be strong here again. Norris now goes second with the medium tyre, while Riccardo moves up to fifth behind Bottas.
Alas that McLaren invasion of the top five is short lived as both Norris and Ricciardo lose their times for track limits at Parabolica. Tedious.
Leclerc and Sainz are trying the softs for Ferrari and move up the order, the 2019 Monza winner taking P6 behind Stroll and Gasly, while Sainz is behind Vettel in P8 after taking a nasty ride over the kerbs exiting the Ascari chicane.
Leclerc's time doesn't stand though. After a Zandvoort weekend where track limits violations were refreshingly absent, we're getting an abundance of them today.
Checkered flag
The checkered flag is now out, but a few drivers appear on course to improve.
Ocon does improve on his final lap, but ultimately stays P15.
So at the end of FP1, it's the usual suspects Hamilton and Verstappen at the head of the charts - although curiously using different tyre compounds to do so.
Hamilton set his benchmark 1m20.926s on mediums, while Verstappen went 0.4s slower on the soft.
Bottas ended up third, with Stroll the best of the rest in fourth after Leclerc had his best lap deleted.
Defending Monza winner Gasly was fifth, just ahead of three-time Italian GP victor Vettel (2008, 2011, 2013) for Aston Martin.
Sainz, who had his final lap deleted for track limits, Alonso, Ricciardo and Perez complete the top 10 - the latter pair each having spent periods at the head of the timesheets.
After his various track limits indiscretions, Leclerc ended up an unrepresentative P11 ahead of Norris (another to fall foul of the white line at Parabolica), Giovinazzi, Tsunoda and Ocon.
Kubica beat his 2019 team-mate Russell to P16 on his second outing subbing for Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo, while Latifi, Mazepin and Schumacher rounded out the order.
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After that frenetic hour of action, the teams have just over two hours to work on their cars - after which they will be put into parc ferme conditions.
So, who has the most work to do? You could argue the answer to that question is 'the drivers' after a number of track limits violations at Parabolica...
Of course, the corner will be officially re-named the Curva Alboreto in a ceremony tomorrow to honour ex-Ferrari racer Michele Alboreto - who was killed in a testing crash at the Lausitzring in 2001. Will you always think of the corner as the Parabolica first and foremost?
If you missed any of that practice session, then here's the full report from Luke Smith: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/hamilton-leads-verstappen-in-opening-italian-gp-practice/6664117/
Thanks for joining us for FP1 - remember, we've got qualifying coming up at 5pm BST which sets the grid for the sprint race tomorrow. See you then!
Green flag
Good afternoon, or early evening, depending on your fancy or time zone. It is almost time for qualifying - that's right!
As a quick reminder it is the second F1 sprint format this weekend so it is the regular qualifying session over the next hour-and-a-bit to decide the grid for Saturday's sprint race.
Breaking news
On the F1 sprint theme and fresh off the press, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto is pleased with changes being considered to the format and thinks it could open the door to use reversed grids. Here's the full story: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ferrari-hopes-f1-sprint-race-changes-open-door-for-reverse-grids/6664256/
We'll worry about the sprint race permutations later on as the focus now is on qualifying. Mercedes and Hamilton have been given the heavy favourite tag for pole but we've heard that before this year and been surprised.
For what it’s worth, Hamilton has secured pole at Monza seven times in his F1 career, while world title rival Verstappen has never qualified inside the top four.
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