It must’ve been a bit of a temperature shock for the drivers, as they came from rainy Zandvoort to hot Monza for this weekend. Especially when, due to changes to the circuit’s surface, the risk of tyre overheating only increased.

FP1

Andrea Kimi Antonelli made his F1 debut in the first practice as he stepped in for George Russell. The young Italian is under a lot of pressure, especially because the announcement of him joining Mercedes in 2025 is expected very soon.

However, the debut practice didn’t end well for Antonelli as he lost control of the W15 in Parabolica and crashed after only 11 minutes to FP1, which brought up a red flag. The driver was okay but the car ended up damaged quite a lot, especially in the back, and Mercedes lost the chance to collect the well-needed valuable data.

The session resumed with 36 minutes remaining and Valtteri Bottas popped up to P1, which was very surprising, especially after the bad weekend Sauber had in Zandvoort, with both of their drivers finishing 2 laps down.

In the end, Bottas finished fifth as Max Verstappen went fastest ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.

Franco Colapinto, who was announced as the replacement of Logan Sargeant until the end of the season, had also his moment at the end of FP1. He took a small trip to the gravel but nothing serious for the first Argentinian in F1 since 2001. He finished the first practice in P17.

FP2

For the first minutes of the second practice, George Russell needed to stay in the pits as his car still wasn’t repaired after Kimi Antonelli’s crash in the first practice. The second car to stay in the pits was the Red Bull of Sergio Perez as some changes in the car’s setup were needed. Both cars got out after around 20 minutes into the session.

The practice was paused around its half for about 10 minutes as Kevin Magnussen crashed with his Haas into the barriers in Lesmo 2 Turn. The driver was okay and the car was a bit damaged in the front but didn’t let Magnussen continue.

Both Mercedes drivers struggled with seat overheating during the whole session and Russell also struggled with the car after Antonelli’s crash. He was last for a big part of the session, in which he participated. However, close to the end, he managed to put his Mercedes in P6.

Lewis Hamilton won the first practice only 0.003 seconds ahead of Norris. Third finished Carlos Sainz, who lost only one tenth on Hamilton.

As expected the battle for the win on Sunday is going to be very tight in Monza as McLaren, after they introduced new upgrades in Zandvoort, is looking even stronger. Ferrari, which brought new upgrades to Monza for their home race, is looking competitive as well. Same as Mercedes, who is looking for a better result after disappointing P7 and P8 in Zandvoort. Red Bull seems like they are struggeling but everything might be completely different on Sunday.