» Bottas quickest in FP1 as Verstappen crashes

Valtteri Bottas led a Mercedes-AMG 1-2 in the opening practice session for the Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix at Monza, which was interrupted by a crash for Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

The Dutch driver’s rather unusual crash at the Ascari chicane came with a little over half of the 90-minute session to run. Turning through the right-hand sweep that makes up the three-corner complex, Verstappen suddenly lost the rear end of his car. This pitched him sideways over the sausage kerbs and across the gravel before he slid nose-first into the barriers, breaking his front wing.

The red flags were quickly thrown – perhaps a little too hastily, it turns out – and Verstappen was able to return to the pits under his own power. After a quick inspection, a replacement front wing and a change of tyres, h emerged back on track and went on to post the fifth-fastest time overall.

Up at the top of the time sheets, the Mercedes’ locked out the top of the order as they have done for much of the season. Aided by a slipstream from teammate Lewis Hamilton, Bottas posted a 1:20.703 to finish just under a quarter of a second clear of the Briton.

Verstappen’s teammate Alexander Albon finished the session third-fastest in the second Honda-powered RB16, albeit a full eight-tenths of a second off Bottas’ pace.

The greatest surprise was who occupied fourth-fastest on the timesheets: Daniil Kvyat in the AlphaTauri Honda. The Russian, who has hitherto had an unimpressive 2020 campaign in comparison to teammate Pierre Gasly, put in his best performance of the season to-date to split the two Red Bull Racing Hondas.

Proving that Kvyat’s pace was no fluke, Gasly was sixth-fastest in the sister AT01 with his fastest lap coming on Medium tyres. The Frenchman spun into the Roggia chicane gravel in the dying seconds of the session but was able to get out of the kitty litter under his own power.

Racing Point will be hoping for an improved showing after a disappointing Belgian Grand Prix last weekend. Sergio Pérez led the Silverstone team’s charge by going seventh-fastest with an identical lap time to McLaren’s Lando Norris – both doing so on the soft compound tyres – while his teammate Lance Stroll was an unrepresentative 13th-fastest after being unable to get a traffic-free lap.

Completing the top ten was Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz Jr in the second McLaren. Less than one-tenth of a second covered the Pérez-Norris-Ricciardo-Sainz quartet.

Ferrari’s ongoing slide from frontrunner to lower midfielder was again exemplified in this session. Reigning Italian Grand Prix winner Charles Leclerc could manage no better than eleventh-fastest on medium-compound tyres. Teammate Sebastian Vettel struggled for balance and braking stability – evidenced by a trip through the gravel at the first Lesmo – and once again found himself mired towards the bottom of the timesheets between the two Williams’ of test driver Roy Nissany and Nicholas Latifi.

FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO HEINEKEN D’ITALIA 2020 – FREE PRACTICE SESSION 1
	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG F1 Team W11	1:20.703		28
2.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG F1 Team W11	1:20.948	+ 0.245	27
3.	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing RB16	1:21.500	+ 0.797	30
4.	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia AlfaTauri AT01	1:21.555	+ 0.852	31
5.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing RB16	1:21.641	+ 0.938	22
6.	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlfaTauri AT01	1:21.667	+ 0.964	27
7.	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point F1 Team RP20	1:21.747	+ 1.044	25
8.	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team MCL35	1:21.747	+ 1.044	29
9.	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault F1 Team R.S.20	1:21.789	+ 1.086	22
10.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren F1 Team MCL35	1:21.821	+ 1.118	27
11.	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari SF1000	1:21.904	+ 1.201	25
12.	Esteban Ocon	Renault F1 Team R.S.20	1:21.984	+ 1.281	28
13.	Lance Stroll	Racing Point F1 Team RP20	1:22.131	+ 1.428	21
14.	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team VF-20	1:22.409	+ 1.706	20
15.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team VF-20	1:22.422	+ 1.719	19
16.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing C39	1:22.552	+ 1.849	24
17.	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing C39	1:22.619	+ 1.916	27
18.	Roy Nissany	Williams Racing FW43	1:22.826	+ 2.123	25
19.	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari SF1000	1:22.988	+ 2.285	24
20.	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing FW43	1:23.120	+ 2.417	22