A first day carrying all the hopes for the Tifosi: at the wheel of his Ferrari, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr. took the best time of the first tests of the Grand Prix of Italy on Friday, in front of an Italian public all committed to the cause Scuderia. In Monza’s “Temple of Speed” bathed in sunshine … and red, Sainz, who is celebrating his 29th birthday on Scuderia land, savored: “It’s great to ride in front of this extraordinary audience (. ..) on the track, the car seems to have regained some rhythm and the characteristics of the circuit seem to suit us better”.
The Spaniard responded on Friday evening to championship leader Max Verstappen, who had dominated the first session run earlier in the day – but only finished 5th on the time sheet in the evening. However, nothing to worry about for the Dutchman: “Mad Max”, who has the opportunity to win a 10th consecutive victory in F1 on Sunday, more than any other driver before him, was simply a victim of traffic on the track , wasting valuable time in his fast lap. “In the short relay I got stuck,” explained the defending champion, while “in the long relay we couldn’t do a lot of laps, so we didn’t really have a clear picture” – the fault of his teammate at Red Bull Sergio Pérez.
The Mexican ended the day in the gravel less than ten minutes from the end of practice. The incident caused a red flag for a few minutes. “It’s a shame to have ended this way, because I had the impression that the day had been positive”, regretted the one whose place at Red Bull seems more and more fragile, the fault of good results more mixed than those of Verstappen. Pérez still finished 3rd at the end of each of the two sessions.
The Mclaren of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri conclude their first day in Italy by placing themselves 2nd and 4th respectively on the time sheet. Further back, the second Ferrari, that of Monegasque Charles Leclerc, winner of the Italian GP in 2019, was content with the 6th fastest time on Friday evening. “The day was pretty tricky overall, our performances were pretty good, but I struggled with the balance of the car,” explained the Monegasque. Since the start of the season, Ferrari has struggled to honor its status as reigning vice-world champion. The Italian team has not won a GP since Austria in July 2022 and is currently in 4th place in the constructors’ standings, behind Red Bull, Mercedes and Aston Martin.
For Alpine, the day was above all studious: far from seeking pure performance, “we have completed our program, but I believe that several aspects still need to be analyzed in order to be more competitive on this extremely fast track”, explained Esteban Ocon, only 15th. His teammate and French compatriot Pierre Gasly, who had signed his first and only victory in the premier class at Monza in 2020 – at the wheel of an AlphaTauri – finished 13th of the day.
