Verstappen tops first practice of Italian GP with hard tyre run

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the pace in the first practice session, of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, with a 1:22.6 lap on the hard compound tyres.

On home soil, Ferrari had a pleasant opening hour as Carlos Sainz finished four-hundredths of a second off the pace of Verstappen while, teammate, Charles Leclerc remained in the top five, in fourth.

Alfa Romeo had their own trouble early on as both Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas suffered technical issues with their C43 machinery before they managed to get out on track.

The Italian Grand Prix was the second event in the 2023 calendar where the sport trialled out the ‘alternate tyre allocation’ where the teams will have to use all the compounds in qualifying. 

How first practice unfolded…

In the early stages of Free Practice 1, Verstappen – in usual fashion – set the benchmark straightaway on the hard compound tyres as he set a 1:22.657 as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and the Dutchman’s teammate, Sergio Perez rounded out the top three respectively. 

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, and Mercedes’ George Russell both had quiet sessions in the opening hour of the Italian Grand Prix. At the chequered flag, the Ferrari driver finished fourth as the Mercedes completed the top five.

In turn, it was a good outing in the first practice session for the Ferrari team as they adorned a one-off special livery to celebrate the team’s historic win at this year’s edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

The iconic car brand secured their first win at the iconic event, since 1965, with the Ferrari 499P during the 2023 World Endurance Championship, driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Gionviazzi and James Calado.

In the remaining top 10, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) sat in sixth as the fastest driver on the medium compounds as those in the top five completed their laps on the hards. In seventh, McLaren’s Lando Norris stood as the fastest driver on the soft compounds.

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) and Williams’ Alexander Albon completed the top 10 in eighth, ninth and 10th respectively.  

In the bottom 10, all of the drivers bar three completed FP1 with soft tyres. Both Haas drivers, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, and Aston Martin’s Felipe Drugovich opted to run the mediums.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was the lead driver in the bottom 10, seven-tenths off the pace, three-tenths ahead of Logan Sargeant who sat in 12th. 

Alpha Tauri’s Liam Lawson embarked on his first full race weekend with the team, following his F1 debut at the Dutch Grand Prix, as the Kiwi continued to substitute for the injured Daniel Ricciardo who had broken his hand last weekend. 

The New Zealander finished FP1 in 13th, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who occupied 14th and 15th respectively.

Hulkenberg led the bottom five with his fastest lap 1.4 seconds off the pace of Verstappen, down in 16th, on the medium tyres and only two-hundreths of a second ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in 17th. 

As per the rules, where all 10 teams are to use a young driver in two FP1 sessions across the season, Drugovich had his first taste of F1 machinery since he got behind the wheel at the Bahrain Pre-Season test. 

The Brazilian had taken Lance Stroll’s place for the session and ended his time behind the wheel in 18th, ahead of Magnussen and Zhou in 19th and 20th respectively. 

It was a poor outing for Alfa Romeo who also opted to use a one-off special livery at the Italian GP as a celebration as the brand released their latest, made-to-order, car: Stradale 33.

Both cars suffered technical glitches in the early stages and the Alfa Romeo drivers were unable to get the cars out on track as the car kept going into anti-stall. The Alfa pairing were quickly pushed back into their respective garages until a fix was made to allow them to head out on track.

That’s all for the article: Verstappen tops first practice of Italian GP with hard tyre run!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Lewis Hamilton puts F1 speculation to bed with two-year extension with Mercedes
• Ferrari and Alfa Romeo to run special liveries for Italian GP
• Lawson set to continue with Alpha Tauri as Ricciardo recovers
• Verstappen secures 9th consecutive race win in Dutch GP
• LIVE COVERAGE: F1 2023 DUTCH GP
• Verstappen secures hat-trick of poles at Dutch GP beating Norris by half-a-second

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.