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Formula 1 Italian GP

F1 Italian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2

Friday's action from the 14th round of the 2023 Formula 1 season

Frecce tricolori air show

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.

Live Standings

Stopped

Summary

  • Summary

    • Sainz led the way for Ferrari on home soil.
    • Stroll caused the first red flag of the day when he stopped on track with a loss of power.
    • Session was red-flagged again with 10 minutes to go after Perez beached his Red Bull at Parabolica. 
    • Verstappen, who can become the first F1 driver to win 10 races in a row this weekend, was only fifth.
  • Leaderboard
    1. Sainz, Ferrari
    2. Norris, McLaren
    3. Perez, Red Bull
    4. Piastri, McLaren
    5. Verstappen, Red Bull
    6. Leclerc, Ferrari
    7. Albon, Williams
    8. Alonso, Aston Martin
    9. Russell, Mercedes
    10. Hulkenberg, Haas

Live Text

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And with that, we bid you goodnight. We'll be back ahead of FP3 tomorrow morning. But for now here is the full rundown of FP2! 
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-italian-gp-fp2-report/10514536/
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60, in the pit lane

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60, in the pit lane

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Speaking on Sky Sports F1, Aston Martin team principal has confirmed a fuel system problem is to blame for Strolls early exit.
Before we leave you today, we will remind you how qualifying will work with the altered tyre allocations. In Q1, drivers must run the hard compound. In Q2, mediums are mandatory. Only in Q3 may drivers fit the soft rubber.
Checkered flag
The chequered flag flies and Sainz will end Friday as the fastest driver at Monza. Norris is second from Perez, who ends the session with a long walk back to the garage.
Alonso has once again fitted soft tyres while the majority have bolted on the medium compound.
Green flag
We go again! Four minutes remain!
The session will resume at 17:56 local time. Less than one minute and we'll begin once more.
Five minutes remain in the session. We may get two-three minutes of action if the FIA does not elect to throw the chequered flag on the session.
Adding to this, with the reduced tyre allocation for the weekend, that is a medium set of tyres that he will not see again.
The rear wing tapped the barrier and the onboard cameras show the angle it has flopped to. This is not the time to make this type of mistake.
Red flag
RED FLAG! Perez cannot escape and this will ruin everyone's long runs. The Red Bull driver ran wide in the middle of the corner and holds the slide through the gravel, likely destroying the floor of his car.
Yellow flag
Perez has gone off at the Parabolica and appears to be beached in the gravel.
Hamilton's single-lap struggle is highlighted on the timing screens, with Hamilton only P17. His best time was set on the medium tyre. 

Conversely, Russell is P9.
The clock ticks down and we have 10 minutes remaining.
We may be into the long runs but don't make the mistake of thinking that the drivers have backed off, as Hamilton takes a brief trip through the gravel second chicane.
Zhou completes his final soft tyre lap and now, it really is down to the grind of the long-runs. Zhou goes P19 after Bottas could manage only P12.
But keeping the high-speed stuff going slightly longer, Bottas goes for a hot lap while the majority of his rivals drop pit.
And after all of this, we are now likely to see a return to medium and hard tyres, as teams battle to gather as much long run data as possible.
Perez now radios in, indicating "we need to be better than this" in reference to drivers lapping dangerously slowly to build gaps.
Verstappen is instructed to pit after his traffic-strewn lap, but he argues that he needs to go again. The pitwall win this argument!
Stopwatch
But Ferrari and Sainz strike back, returning to the top with a 1m21.355s.
Stopwatch
Limited expectations for McLaren this weekend, but Norris goes to the top with a 1m21.374s! Team-mate Piastri pops up into third.
P3 for Verstappen - 0.091s off the pace of Perez but after being forced to navigate significant traffic in the middle sector.
Stopwatch
On his lap, Perez goes fastest with a 1m21.540s. But here comes Verstappen...
Red Bull now attempt to practice the tow with both Verstappen and Perez taking turns.
Aston Martin has confirmed Stroll's problem cannot be fixed during this session. He will have one practice session before qualifying.
Leclerc fails to improve on his medium tyre time and remains P2.
Ferrari are using the opportunity to experiment with the tow, with Leclerc leading Sainz. Or they were... Sainz appears to have backed out of this effort.
Stopwatch
No messing about trying to find a tow for Magnussen, as he goes it alone and hits a 1m22.574s to climb to P8.
Here come the soft tyres! Sainz, Leclerc, Perez, Tsunoda, Lawson, Ocon and Magnussen have all fitted the red-walled tyres.
Quote
Hamilton is three-tenths off team-mate Russell at present, and after asking Mercedes for an explanation, he is told it appears he has a 5kmph deficit to his team-mate through his setup.
Alonso has now begun his preparation lap.
With the alternate tyre supply this weekend drivers are unlikely to complete any significant running on the soft tyre before Saturday. But coming up now are the qualifying simulations, so get ready for some mega times.
Perez has also forced Verstappen back one place, to fourth.
Stopwatch
But with a tow, Sainz and Leclerc now move into the top two positions, with the former leading the way through a 1m21.656s. Leclerc is 0.273s back.
Stopwatch
Verstappen sets a new benchmark time with a 1m22.244s before pitting.

By: Autosport Staff

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