Monza, FP1: Leclerc leads Ferrari one-two in first practice

Russell 3rd, Hamilton 4th

By Franck Drui

9 September 2022 - 15:11
Monza, FP1: Leclerc leads Ferrari (...)

Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet ahead of Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz in the first free practice session for the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix as championship leader Max Verstappen finished fifth. It was also revealed that the Red Bull driver will take an engine-related grid penalty on Sunday in Monza.

At the start of the opening practice session Verstappen quickly moved to the top of the order with a lap of 1: 25.830 set on hard tyres. His Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez then took top spot with a hard-tyre time of 1:25.026s before Alpine’s Fernando Alonso stole P1 by 0.091s.

Verstappen improved over his hard tyres run, however, and after reclaiming top spot after 10 minutes with a lap of 1:23.449, he eventually worked his way down to 1:22.853 before drivers began to switch to soft tyres.

Leclerc, on the red-walled rubber, immediately took top spot from Verstappen with a 1:22.410. Verstappen looked on course to beat that time, but the Dutchman encountered traffic in the final sector and he would end up fifth overall.

George Russell finished the session in third place while his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton was fourth with a lap of 1:22.831 that left him 0.421 off Leclerc.

Verstappen finished fifth and 0.430 off the pace and it was revealed that the World Championship leader will incur a five-place grid drop for taking a new internal combustion engine.

Sixth place went to Alpine’s Esteban Ocon with team-mate Alonso seventh ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas. Tenth spot went to 2021 Monza winner Daniel Ricciardo, with team-mate Lando Norris down in 16th in the second McLaren.

There were two FP1 cameos in the session with former Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi finishing 18th in an outing with Haas and Nyck de Vries 19th for Aston Martin.

Pos.DriverCarTimeLaps
01 Charles Leclerc Ferrari F1-75 1:22.410 25
02 Carlos Sainz Ferrari F1-75 1:22.487 23
03 George Russell Mercedes W13 1:22.689 27
04 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes W13 1:22.831 24
05 Max Verstappen Red Bull RBPT RB18 1:22.840 27
06 Esteban Ocon Alpine Renault A522 1:23.075 28
07 Fernando Alonso Alpine Renault A522 1:23.099 26
08 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri RBPT AT03 1:23.260 26
09 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Ferrari C42 1:23.394 27
10 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren Mercedes MCL36 1:23.511 28
11 Alex Albon Williams Mercedes FW44 1:23.529 24
12 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo Ferrari C42 1:23.570 28
13 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri RBPT AT03 1:23.640 27
14 Sergio Perez Red Bull RBPT RB18 1:23.661 21
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Mercedes AMR22 1:23.688 28
16 Lando Norris McLaren Mercedes MCL36 1:23.856 27
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari VF-22 1:24.006 24
18 Antonio Giovinazzi Haas Ferrari VF-22 1:24.317 25
19 Nyck De Vries Aston Martin Mercedes AMR22 1:24.731 22
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams Mercedes FW44 1:24.941 24

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