Verstappen edges Sanz in Italian GP first practice

Max Verstappen led the field from the outset in Friday's opening practice for this weekend's Italian Grand prix, the Red Bull charger edging Ferrari's Carlos Sainz by just 0.045s.

It was a busy but incident free session at Monza, with Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc completing the Red Bull/Ferrari themed top four.

Behind the leading quartet, Mercedes' George Russell and Aston martin's Fernando Alonso rounded of the top six.

Aston Martin reserve Felipe Drugovich, subbing for Lance Stroll in FP1 as part of the team's mandatory young driver programme, was unsurprisingly among the first drivers to head out onto the track when the lights went green.

And there was no rain in sight around Monza Park, which was a convenient change from F1's recent soggy weekends.

• Italian Grand Prix Free Practice 1 - Results

As a reminder, F1 is rolling its second Alternative Tyre Allocation test this weekend, which because drivers will have fewer tyres at their disposal will likely influence how teams manage their tyre choices and inventory during today's practice sessions.

As the track gradually populated, both Alfa Romeo's were stuck in their garage by an apparent technical issue.

The early times – while irrelevant – saw Verstappen on hards and then Piastri on softs go top, until birthday boy Carlos Sainz leapfrogged both drivers.

But Verstappen, with Perez in tow, quickly reclaimed the lead, lowering the benchmark to 1m22.657s, the Dutchman comfortably edging his teammate by almost half a second.

A hard-shod Leclerc then split the two Red Bulls, but remained 0.309s off Verstappen quickest time, while Alonso slotted into fourth.
As the session approached its half-way mark, there were little changes to the pecking order, but complete laps were still few and far between over at Alfa, and for Williams' Logan Sargeant.

Meanwhile, while Perez pushed himself back into P2 and Sainz moved up to P4, Ferrari's crews were seen pouring over Leclerc's SF-23, putting it on its jacks and investigating an issue underneath the car.

Pressing on, it was Sainz's turn to disrupt Red Bull's domination by slotting into second. Behind the top four, Russell and Alonso were half a second adrift, just ahead of Norris and Hamilton.

But everyone appeared to up the pace as the session entered its final 15 minutes. The hard tyre had been the frontrunners' rubber of choice but Alonso was tempted by a run on the medium compound.

However, the Spaniard was significantly slower, likely indicating a heavy fuel load for the Aston charger.

The session thus ended with a blend of Red Bull and Ferrari at the front, with Verstappen leading Sainz by 0.046s, Perez and Leclerc.

Russell and Alonso followed thereafter while Norris, Hamilton, Tsundoa and Albon rounded off the top ten.

Piastri led the second half of the field from Sargeant and AlphaTauri rookie Liam Lawson. The Kiwi - running in his first dry session - was faster than Alpine's Pierre Gasly who, along with teammate Esteban Ocon, endured a rather subdued first practice.

Drugovich concluded his FP1 outing P18 with a healthy 23 laps under his belt and a best lap that was for reference a little under a second slower than Alonso.

Behind the Brazilian, Haas' Kevin Magnussen and Alfa's Zhou Guanyu closed out the pecking order.

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