Max Verstappen tops the timing chart in FP1 at the Italian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen finished on top in an extremely quiet first free practice session at the Italian Grand Prix, finishing ahead of Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez in Monza. The Dutchman finished with a lap time of 1:22.657.

Despite lots of teams coming out of the pits quickly and getting onto the track as soon as possible, not much happened on the circuit itself. Alfa Romeo had an early software issue which forced both Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou into a late start, but this was eventually fixed and the duo finished in 15th and 20th.

Alex Albon also had a small moment going through the Ascari chicane, where he lost the rear of his car and found the gravel trap after Turn 10. However, he was able to continue on and get back to the pits for the team to check his car. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon also ran off at Turn 10 later on in the session, so it might be a turn that the FIA will look into heavily this weekend.

At the top, however, there was a small battle between Red Bull and Ferrari but it didn’t last too long, as Verstappen was able to one-up every rival quickly after they stole the top spot from him.

As for the battle behind the top four, it’s hard to make a decisive view on how their weekends will go, as there was a wide range of tyre choices. Mercedes, McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams all look like they will be vying for a Q3 spot tomorrow, but that’s already a view many head heading into the weekend.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have agreed new contracts for the next two seasons with Mercedes, and the pair finished in eighth and fifth respectively.

Felipe Drugovich was in the car for Aston Martin for the hour session, replacing Lance Stroll, and the Brazilian got stuck in, putting in lots of laps and ended up finishing in 18th, ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu.