Hamilton tops opening practice at Monza

Hamilton is the man to beat this weekend

In a rain affected opening practice for the Italian GP at Monza Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes 1-2 with a time of 1m21.537s to finish 1/2-second ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas.

The Ferraris were 3rd and 4th fastest but over a second per lap slower with Sebastian Vettel the faster of the two 1.115 seconds behind Hamilton. However, expect that gap to narrow significantly this afternoon.

Daniel Riccardo and Max Verstappen were 5th and 6th for Red Bull.

It was team formation all the way back to P8 in fact, with the Mercedes, followed by the Ferraris followed by the Red Bulls followed by the Force Indias, proving once again that F1 is 99% car and 1% driver. Aldo Costa, the chief designer for Mercedes, led the first practice session.

The overcast Monza session saw the 60 percent threat of rain realized with 16 minutes remaining. It wasn’t a heavy fall, but left the track greasy.

Bottas set the early pace using the soft Pirelli tires, and was seven-tenths up on Hamilton on similar rubber; the Englishman missed chicanes on three occasions. Ferrari were using the supersofts at the same time, but Vettel was more than a second off Bottas's pace.

When Mercedes tried the supersofts Hamilton got into the 1m 21s, setting the fastest time of 1m 21.537s to Bottas’s 1m 21.972s. Vettel and Raikkonen, on the supersofts, managed 1m 22.652s and 1m 22.689s respectively, and Red Bull were close with Ricciardo on 1m 22.742s and Verstappen on 1m 22.749s.

Both Red Bull drivers are set for grid penalties, however, Ricciardo for using his fifth ICE and turbo and his sixth MGU-H, Verstappen for using his fifth ICE and MGU-H.

At McLaren, Alonso can expect a similar fate. The Spaniard is on his seventh ICE, ninth MGU-H, seventh MGU-K, ninth turbo, sixth energy store and fifth control electronics.

Carlos Sainz, who had a spin on his way to 11th place, will also get a grid penalty for his fifth MGU-H of the season on his Toro Rosso.

Practice 1 Results