F1 results: Carlos Sainz fastest in Italian GP practice on Friday

Sainz's team-mate Charles Leclerc had set the fastest time in FP1, before the Spaniard topped FP2 with the fastest time of the day ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc.

Italian Grand Prix FP1 results: Leclerc fastest from Sainz

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	25	1'22.410			253.061
2	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	23	1'22.487	0.077	0.077	252.825
3	George Russell	Mercedes	27	1'22.689	0.279	0.202	252.207
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	24	1'22.831	0.421	0.142	251.775
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	27	1'22.840	0.430	0.009	251.747
6	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	28	1'23.075	0.665	0.235	251.035
7	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	26	1'23.099	0.689	0.024	250.963
8	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	26	1'23.260	0.850	0.161	250.478
9	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	27	1'23.394	0.984	0.134	250.075
10	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	26	1'23.511	1.101	0.117	249.725
11	Alex Albon	Williams	24	1'23.529	1.119	0.018	249.671
12	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	28	1'23.570	1.160	0.041	249.548
13	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	27	1'23.640	1.230	0.070	249.340
14	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	21	1'23.661	1.251	0.021	249.277
15	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	28	1'23.688	1.278	0.027	249.197
16	Lando Norris	McLaren	27	1'23.856	1.446	0.168	248.697
17	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	24	1'24.006	1.596	0.150	248.253
18	Antonio Giovinazzi	Haas	25	1'24.317	1.907	0.311	247.338
19	Nyck de Vries	Aston Martin	22	1'24.731	2.321	0.414	246.129
20	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	24	1'24.941	2.531	0.210	245.521
View full results

What happened in Italian GP Free Practice 1?

Verstappen set the early pace at 1m22.853s on hard tyres, 1.173s ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Alpine. Teams switched to soft tyres for the second half of the session, with Leclerc resetting the bar at 1m22.410s, over four tenths up on Verstappen’s best time on hards.

Verstappen’s first run on softs was ruined by Lando Norris’s McLaren holding him up in the final sector, which cost him 0.43s to Leclerc’s time - despite the Dutchman acing the opening sectors.

Sainz then grabbed second, 0.077s down on Leclerc, as George Russell moved into third. He was a quarter of a second off in the first Mercedes, but just ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the second. Verstappen slipped to an unrepresentative fifth, ahead of the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Alonso.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez hit trouble with his DRS flap early on and languished down in 14th.

Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi replaced Mick Schumacher at Haas for this session and was 18th fastest, three tenths off team-mate Kevin Magnussen.

Mercedes reserve Nyck de Vries, in for Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin, briefly visited the gravel at Ascari and ended his day in 19th. Sainz mirrored his off in the closing moments during his long run on softs.

Nyck de Vries, Aston Martin AMR22

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Italian Grand Prix FP2 results: Sainz fastest from Verstappen

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	24	1'21.664			255.373
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	27	1'21.807	0.143	0.143	254.926
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	23	1'21.857	0.193	0.050	254.771
4	Lando Norris	McLaren	29	1'22.338	0.674	0.481	253.282
5	George Russell	Mercedes	24	1'22.386	0.722	0.048	253.135
6	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	26	1'22.394	0.730	0.008	253.110
7	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	25	1'22.503	0.839	0.109	252.776
8	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	29	1'22.728	1.064	0.225	252.088
9	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	28	1'22.752	1.088	0.024	252.015
10	Alex Albon	Williams	24	1'22.835	1.171	0.083	251.763
11	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	26	1'22.911	1.247	0.076	251.532
12	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	30	1'22.938	1.274	0.027	251.450
13	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	26	1'22.993	1.329	0.055	251.283
14	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	25	1'23.135	1.471	0.142	250.854
15	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	31	1'23.217	1.553	0.082	250.607
16	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	25	1'23.557	1.893	0.340	249.587
17	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	26	1'23.731	2.067	0.174	249.069
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	27	1'23.785	2.121	0.054	248.908
19	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	23	1'23.982	2.318	0.197	248.324
20	Mick Schumacher	Haas	9	1'24.586	2.922	0.604	246.551
View full results

What happened in Italian GP Free Practice 2?

Teams started this session on medium tyres, with Verstappen setting the bar at 1m23.021s. That was quickly cleared by Leclerc, who produced 1m22.307s.

The Ferrari driver's time was then pipped by Verstappen on 1m22.303s, putting him fastest by 0.004s. Sainz was third at this point, 0.18s off, and suffered a trip over the sleeping policemen at the Rettifilo chicane between his push laps. Perez was fourth, half a second away from the pace.

Verstappen locked up and shortcut the Rettifilo on his first push lap on softs, but then produced 1m21.807s on his second attempt. Moments later, Mick Schumacher’s stranded Haas brought out a red flag after suffering a power unit failure.

Before everyone switched to softs, some being caught out by the stoppage, Sainz’s run was delayed by a fix that was required inside his sidepod. He then grabbed the top spot as the session resumed with 1m21.664s, 0.143s up on Verstappen and 0.193s ahead of Leclerc.

Norris jumped up to fourth, half a second off third-placed Leclerc. Russell was the fastest Mercedes again, ahead of Perez, Hamilton and the Alpines of Ocon and Alonso.

Sainz had another couple of moments late on at the Rettifilo, while Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) visited the Lesmo gravel trap on multiple occasions and Alex Albon (Williams) took a wild trip through the gravel at the exit of the Ascari chicane.