Max Verstappen topped the first practice for the 2024 Italian Grand Prix while the highly anticipated debut of Kimi Antonelli ended prematurely with a crash.
Verstappen ended up faster than Charles Leclerc who was second fastest in the Ferrari, while Lando Norris was third fastest for McLaren.
Verstappen had a shaky start to the session, not managing to slow his RB20 down for Turn 1, and spent most of the session outside the top ten, until a final effort towards the end of the 60-hour-session put him on top of the timing screens.
Ferrari had a major upgrade which they were working on dialing in, but Leclerc at some point did not seem very happy with his SF-24, as Carlos Sainz was fourth fastest.
The surprise was Valtteri Bottas who was fifth fastest in the Sauber, with Alex Albon also featuring in the top ten for Williams.
Speaking of Williams, their new driver, Franco Colapinto ended the session down in 17th, over 1.2s off the pace and almost seven tenths slower than Albon.
Hamilton was using a new Mercedes package and ended the session seventh fastest after having several off track moments while Antonelli was luckily using the older spec W15 before he binned it.
The young Italian driver had a strong start, setting the fastest lap time early on, but soon was over-confident, going too fast into Parabolica and end up in the barriers.
George Russell would not have been happy to see his car crashed, and the Mercedes mechanics will be racing against the clock to get the car ready by FP2.
Buildup towards FP1
If we look back at the start of the 2024 Formula 1 season, and the grim picture Red Bull Racing's early dominance portrayed, we would never expect the turn of events we have had.
McLaren have caught up with Red Bull and even passed them, evident from Norris' win last weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix, with Verstappen now playing catch up every weekend trying to make the best out of the 70-point-gap he has over his rival in the F1 Drivers' Championship with nine races remaining.
And while the driver lineups started getting finalized with Sainz announced by Williams for 2024, the latter surprised everyone by dropping Logan Sargeant in favor of Colapinto.
Dropping Sargeant was not the surprise, but the choice of Colapinto is, as many expected Toto Wolff to put pressure on his former head of strategy James Vowles to field Mick Schumacher, but the Williams boss seems to be his own man running his team in the way he sees fit.
Still on the Mercedes front, Antonelli will make his F1 debut with them, replacing Russell for FP1 with an announcement on the Italian youngster's Mercedes contract for 2025 reportedly imminent.
So FP1 will be the best session to see two young drivers make their way into top flight and how they get on with the big boys.
As for the track, there has been a lot of work done, resurfacing, new kerbs, and renovation work, which will make matter more interesting for the teams, tyre-wise that is.
Speaking of tyres, Pirelli have gone for their softest range this weekend: C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium) and C5 (Soft).
They also have a new trophy and podium cap!
FP1 Session Highlights
The session started in clear conditions with track temperatures at 50 degrees Celsius as air temperature was 32 degrees.
Fernando Alonso made his way out on track first, with aero rakes fixed on his AMR24, as Lance Stroll followed in the other Aston Martin.
Soon the driver with all the spotlight on, Antonelli, made his way to the track with Soft tyres on the Mercedes carrying the #12 instead of Russell's #63.
Antonelli went fastest on his first attempt, while Hamilton went second fastest behind him on the same tyre, early in the session.
Verstappen missed his braking point at the chicane at Turn 1 and goes through the run-off area, something similar also happening with Leclerc.
The Ferrari has a big upgrade, a new floor body, floor fences, floor edge, diffuser, engine cover, new mirrors, new nose, in addition to the natural low downforce bits - front and rear wing.
Ten minutes into the session, Antonelli, on his second push lap, lost control of the W15 into Turn 11 (Parabolica) and ended up in the barriers.
"I'm ok," the youngster radioed, before walking away from the wrecked Mercedes. Session over for him and session Red flagged.
Wolff responded: "Kimi, all good. All good Kimi."
The session was resumed with less than 40 minutes remaining on the clock.
With the running, Colapinto in the Williams had a moment at Turn 5, losing the rear of the car, but holding it to keep going.
Hamilton soon after had a moment at Turn 7, running wide on the kerbs dipping the rear left into the gravel, but also kept going. Hamilton also reported vibrations in the front tyres.
Replace showed Leclerc having a moment at Turn 6, he soon radioed: "I nearly lost it in Turn 6, car is tricky to drive."
With a bit over 15 minutes remaining, Sainz had a moment at Turn 11, a mid-corner snap, but he managed to keep his car on track, just running wide. He radioed: "Oooh, tricky one."
Nico Hulkenberg was soon caught out at the same corner - Turn 11 aka Parabolica, then Sergio Perez had a slight snap there as well.
Leclerc soon complained about the deceleration of his SF-24, his engineer admitted is was "very poor".
Hamilton, five minutes from the end, locked up heavily going into the chicane at Turn 4, and goes straight.
In the dying moments of the session, Colapinto went off at Parabolica but managed to keep his car out of the barriers at the end of the gravel trap.
The Argentinian driver limped back to the pits under Yellow flags, while Ocon also spun at the first chicane, with Hamilton complaining about his seat getting hot.
How they finished
Verstappen clocked a 1:21.676 to go fastest of all, 0.228s faster than Leclerc in the Ferrari with Norris 0.013s further down the road in third.
Sainz was fourth fastest in the other Ferrari, 0.450s off the pace and 0.001s faster than Bottas, a strong fifth in the Sauber.
Oscar Piastri was sixth fastest in the second McLaren, 0.523s away from the top, with Hamilton 0.025s behind him in seventh.
Albon was eighth fastest in the Williams, 0.004s behind Hamilton and 0.091s ahead of Perez, the Mexican ninth with Fernando Alonso tenth fastest.
Italian GP FP1 Classification
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