Hamilton tops first practice at Monza

Sep 4, 2015
2 min read

Lewis Hamilton has hit the ground running for the Italian Grand Prix, setting the fastest time in the morning practice session with a 1:24.670. His team mate, Nico Rosberg, was almost half a second down on the Brit.

Sebastian Vettel was 3rd, but the German had a spin at the first chicane late in the session. Kimi Raikkonen was 6th, with neither Ferrari showcasing any sign of being able to challenge the Silver Arrows, as Vettel was a second down on Rosberg. Ferrari were, however, experimenting with different wing levels. The team began the session with higher wing levels than other teams, before switching to a lower downforce package in the middle of the session.

Force India look to be carrying their momentum from Spa with 5th for Sergio Perez and 4th for Nico Hulkenberg, although the German suffered a fuel leak into his cockpit during the session.

Lotus will be looking to do the same, after Romain Grosjean scored a podium at the last race. Pastor Maldonado was 10th, and Jolyon Palmer deputised for Grosjean and was half a second off the Venezuelan.

Daniel Ricciardo was the only Renault-powered car in the top 10 in 7th, although he and his team mate go into this weekend with a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change. Just behind were the Williams of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Williams rarely show their hand on a Friday, so we can expect them to climb up the order before qualifying.

It was a tough session for Toro Rosso. Max Verstappen was just 14th and struggling to keep the car on the track. Carlos Sainz had it worse, however. A ‘false neutral’ when he tried to change gear plagued his first run, and on his second run the rear snapped violently under braking for the Parabolica, which left the Spaniard beached in the gravel. Sainz also goes into qualifying with an engine penalty.

McLaren, once again, showed very little signs of improvement, with Fernando Alonso 17th and Jenson Button 18th. The team have reverted back to their old nose design for this race, as it carries less drag than the shorter, stubby nose. Like they did at Spa, they have brought extra fresh engines for which they will take no penalty, after the regulation carrying unserved grid penalties to the race was removed.

Full classification