F1 LIVE | FP1 for 2023 Italian Grand Prix at Monza
Live
The first free practice for the 2023 Italian Grand Prix is about to get underway, and you can follow the action at Monza with this liveblog. During this session, we will get our first indication of how the weekend will unfold and whether or not Ferrari can impress in front of their home fans on a low downforce circuit.
F1 LIVE | FP1: Italian Grand Prix
During the first free practice session, Felipe Drugovich will be behind the wheel on behalf of Aston Martin. Lance Stroll will relinquish his Formula 1 seat for a very short time so that the 2022 Formula 2 champion can test in the Aston Martin. We already saw at Zandvoort that junior Robert Shwartzman got behind the wheel at Ferrari for the first practice session.
There is also an alternative tyre allocation this weekend as Pirelli look to reduce their carbon footprint. The reduction in tyres means each driver will have just 11 sets of dry tyres (three Hard, four Medium and four Soft). Teams and drivers also have their hands tied in qualifying. In Q1 the hard must be used, in Q2 the Medium, and in Q3 the Soft. This was previously tested during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, and the amount of practice running was questioned.
Low downforce
Teams are bringing specific aero packages to make their cars fast around the so-called “temple of speed”. In fact, the Monza layout is in a category of its own for how atypical it is: very long straights, heavy breaking points, slow and twisty chicanes and some famous fast corners like Ascari, Lesmo and Parabolica. For this reason, teams always bring specific wings and setups to adapt to this unique circuit.
The top teams have arrived in Monza with the goal of setting their cars in order to be fast in the straights without compromising the tyre management, which is key for winning the race on Sunday. Only the practices will be able to give us an idea of who made the best choice, waiting for a weekend full of passion and fun to begin.