Italy – Free Practice 1: Hamilton Far Ahead of Button and Rosberg

It is under a cloudy sky that the first free practice session of the Italian Grand Prix will take place. Some drivers are replacing the regular racers: Charles Pic slides into Romain Grosjean’s seat at Lotus, Daniel Juncadella replaces Sergio Pérez at Force India, Giedo van der Garde takes Adrian Sutil’s place at Sauber, and Kamui Kobayashi has handed over his car to Roberto Merhi—authorized to race by the FIA despite his Super License no longer being valid—at Caterham.

The session is underway! Quickly, most of the cars head out for their installation lap, on hard tires (orange). It takes a little quarter of an hour for a time to finally be set: it’s Max Chilton, with 1:33.435. He is quickly surpassed by Jean-Eric Vergne and then Kevin Magnussen. The Dane sets a 1:27.228. The Mercedes pair make progress together.

These first minutes are an opportunity to note that the drivers take advantage of the new asphalt zone of the Parabolica to slightly go off the track. Meanwhile, the rookie Roberto Merhi receives a few orders: You’re deploying the DRS too early. You’re braking too hard. Just before the end of the first half-hour, the Mercedes team takes the lead, Lewis Hamilton ahead of Nico Rosberg.

After thirty minutes, the top 5 consists of Hamilton, Rosberg, Button, Magnussen, and Alonso. As usual, the drivers have returned the extra set of tires provided by Pirelli, and calm reigns in the Lombardy countryside. It takes 15 minutes to see an F1 car back on the track: it is Kimi Räikkönen’s Ferrari. A few small mistakes for the Finn, as well as for Merhi or Maldonado. At McLaren, Magnussen rushes back to the pits because the back of his headrest has come loose. His teammate takes the lead with a time of 1:26.810.

After one hour, Button is leading ahead of Hamilton, Rosberg, Alonso, and Magnussen, while a problem is reported on Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton takes the lead with a time of 1:26.547, three-tenths ahead of his compatriot. He continues his momentum by reducing his time by another three-tenths. In terms of top speed, Felipe Massa is currently the fastest at 346.4 km/h. At the end of the session, braking errors multiply, whether in the Parabolica, Ascari, or the first chicane; the cars, deprived of some of their downforce, are more unstable.

At the checkered flag, it’s Lewis Hamilton who finishes these FP1 sessions on top, ahead of Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg.