Max sixth in Monza FP1: "Fairly happy"

Published on 01 September 2017 by Stefan Meens

Max Verstappen started his Italian Grand Prix with a sixth place in free practice 1. The Dutchman completed 23 laps in a session which featured some light rain. Max’s quickest effort was seventh thousands off his team mate Daniel Ricciardo’s time, who had to settle for P5. At the very front, Mercedes set the pace with Lewis Hamilton the fastest, followed by team mate Valtteri Bottas. The Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were third and fourth in front of their home crowd.,

“I’m fairly happy with this first training session. As expected, we’re too slow but it’s not too bad”, said Max after the FP1. “We had to do drive with very little downforce so the trick is to have a very stable car, but that’s not easy. We’re working on it.”

Apart from a few drivers missing the chicanes, the Monza opening session is without incidents. Max is able to work through his usual programme, despite a massive drift in the Ascari chicane. In the end, he is sixth fastest with a 1:22.749.

With fifteen minutes to go, a light drizzle dampens the track with Carlos Sainz spinning in his Scuderia Toro Rosso because of it. But the rain does not persist and most drivers head out for on final run.

Italian Grand Prix - Autodromo Nazionale Monza - Friday 1 September

FREE PRACTICE 1 RESULTS:

01 44 Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                    1:21.537          28
02 77 Valtteri Bottas     Mercedes                    1:21.972 +0.435s  31
03  5 Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                     1:22.652 +1.115s  24
04  7 Kimi Räikkönen      Ferrari                     1:22.689 +1.152s  28
05  3 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:22.742 +1.205s  28
06 33 Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:22.749 +1.212s  23
07 11 Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes        1:23.317 +1.780s  36
08 31 Esteban Ocon        Force India Mercedes        1:23.400 +1.863s  34
09  2 Stoffel Vandoorne   McLaren Honda               1:23.465 +1.928s  24
10 19 Felipe Massa        Williams Mercedes           1:23.561 +2.024s  37
11 55 Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso                  1:23.680 +2.143s  22
12 20 Kevin Magnussen     Haas Ferrari                1:23.973 +2.436s  22
13 18 Lance Stroll        Williams Mercedes           1:23.991 +2.454s  30
14 26 Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso                  1:24.012 +2.475s  27
15 14 Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda               1:24.015 +2.478s  17
16  8 Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari                1:24.079 +2.542s  22
17 27 Nico Hulkenberg     Renault                     1:24.542 +3.005s  17
18 30 Jolyon Palmer       Renault                     1:25.166 +3.629s  21
19 94 Pascal Wehrlein     Sauber Ferrari              1:25.223 +3.686s  26
20  9 Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari              1:25.687 +4.150s  17

Italian GP contest: win a 1:43 halo Italian GP 2016 scale model