Italy – Free Practice 1: Schumacher Like in the Good Old Days

Unlike at Spa-Francorchamps last week, it is sunny this Friday morning on the Monza circuit. The mercury reads 23 degrees in the air and 28 on the track. As is often the case during Free Practice 1, many third drivers are at the wheel, such is the case with Bottas at Williams, Ma Qinq Hua at HRT in place of Narain Karthikeyan, and Jules Bianchi in Paul di Resta’s car. Jérôme D’Ambrosio is also on track, but he will be there for the whole weekend following Romain Grosjean’s suspension.

At the green lights, it’s Jean-Eric Vergne, who had a great Grand Prix in Belgium, who is the first to leave the pits. Jérôme d’Ambrosio soon follows, hitting the track as well to clock in miles and prepare as best as possible for the rest of the weekend.

It is Felipe Massa who sets the first timed lap at 1:28.370, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in 1:31.028. The time was improved 20 good minutes later by Kimi Räikkönen with a 1:27.369. His interim teammate sets a first time over 3 seconds behind the Finn. There is therefore room for improvement, which he does on the next lap by halving the gap.

Lewis Hamilton tops the timesheet with a 1:26.980 as just under an hour of testing remains. The Englishman is using the rear wing that was already fitted to Button’s car in Belgium, which had caused some frustration for the 2008 champion. Hamilton improves again on the next lap with a 1:26.326.

Schumacher is the first driver to go under 1 minute and 26 seconds with a best lap of 1:25.961, and the German further improves on the next lap: 1:25.422.

In Monza, the first braking is particularly tricky due to the low downforce of the Italian track. Ma Qinq Hua, D’Ambrosio, as well as Schumacher and Vettel, notably got caught out during this morning session.

After 45 minutes, Schumacher leads Button, Alonso, Massa, and Pérez. As in Spa, the Sauber should perform well on the ultra-fast Monza track. The Mercedes seems to be working well as Nico Rosberg breaks into the Top 3, three-tenths behind his teammate in the final third of the session.

A few minutes before the end of the session, Fernando Alonso abandons his Ferrari at the end of the starting straight. Maldonado does the same after the second chicane.

No change at the top of the timesheet except for Räikkönen’s seventh fastest time. So it’s Schumacher who finishes this first practice session in the lead ahead of Button, Rosberg, Alonso, and Massa.

Result of Free Practice 1 of the Italian Grand Prix: