Practice 1 Report - The wrong cars

The wrong cars, as far as the tifosi were concerned, took the top two spots in Free Practice 1 as Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were first and second. The best Ferrari could do was third with Sebastian Vettel.

The ambient temperature at the start of the 90-minute session was 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 73 degrees Fahrenheit (23 degrees Centigrade.) There was a 20 percent chance of rain.

The line-up for the weekend was: Mercedes “ Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Red Bull Renault “ Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat. Williams Mercedes “ Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari “ Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. McLaren Honda “ Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Force India Mercedes “ Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Toro Rosso Renault “ Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. Lotus Mercedes “ Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. Marussia Ferrari “ Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi. Sauber “ Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.

Jolyon Palmer drove Grosjean™s car in FP1.

Vettel was the first out on the 3.599“mile (5.793-km) 11“turn Monza track. And the first to hit trouble were Alonso and Rosberg who reported that they were down on power.

10 minutes into the session, Verstappen was the only driver on the track, and nobody has set a lap time.

15 minutes into the session, Verstappen set the first time “ a 1:30.315, and lowered that to a 1:29.413. Kvyat beat that with a 1:28.572.

18 minutes into the session, Hamilton turned a 1:27.616. Vettel was second and Hulkenberg third. But then Maldonado moved up to second. Hamilton meanwhile got down to a 1:26.305.

Soon it was Vettel who was third after setting a 1:26.616. Maldonado was fourth ahead of Hulkenberg, Perez and Raikkonen.

Pirelli offered the medium and soft tires for the weekend and everybody was on the softs for FP1.

25 minutes into the session, Hamilton improved to a 1:25.653.

26 minutes into the session, the red flags came out to stop the session as Sainz spun into the gravel at Turn 11.

The top 10 were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Perez, Maldonado, Hulkenberg, Kvyat, Raikkonen, Bottas and Massa.

31 minutes into FP1 the session restarted.

38 minutes into the session, Ricciardo was the first driver to go back out. He jumped up to fourth place and then dropped to fifth as Perez took over fourth.

With 36 minutes remaining in the session, Nasr slotted into seventh place. And Palmer was up to 11th.

With 31 minutes remaining in the session, Rosberg topped Hamilton™s time with a lap in 1:25.122. Then Hamilton beat that with a 1:25.122.

With 30 minutes remaining in the session, the top 10 were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Hulkenberg, Perez, Ricciardo, Maldonado, Nasr, Kvyat, and Raikkonen.

Hamilton then set a 1:24.670 and Rosberg a 1:25.133.

With 12 minutes remaining in the session, Raikkonen missed Turn 2 and reported a problem with the brakes.

With 6 minutes remaining in the session, Vettel had a quick spin at Turn 1. Raikkonen took over sixth.

The top 10 at the end of FP1 were: Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Hulkenberg, Perez, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Massa, Bottas and Maldonado.