2018 F1 Round 14 Italian Grand Prix FP1 – Pérez fastest as Norris runs for McLaren

The Italian Grand Prix weekend began at Monza on August 31, 2018. Force India’s Sergio Pérez topped FP1 in 1:34.000, 0.550 seconds ahead of Kimi Räikkönen. Team-mate Esteban Ocon was a further 0.043 seconds behind in third.

Monza is known for its long straights and heavy-braking chicanes. A low-drag set-up helps straight-line speed while testing braking stability and traction through the corners. The teams’ tyre and fuel programmes influenced the opening session’s times. Pérez’s lead was a provisional Friday result, with qualifying potential still to be established.

Toro Rosso made an encouraging start with Brendon Hartley fourth and Pierre Gasly sixth. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was fifth and Verstappen seventh. Both teams needed to address power-unit considerations and the trade-off in straight-line speed ahead of the race. Lap totals and set-up testing were equally important.

The Mercedes drivers finished tenth and eleventh. Bottas completed eight laps and Hamilton six, while Ferrari’s Vettel managed only four laps in seventeenth. The limited running left the three championship contenders with little data, and the teams needed to gather more long-run and tyre information in the afternoon.

McLaren put reserve driver Lando Norris in place of Stoffel Vandoorne for FP1. Norris completed nine laps and finished twentieth, while Alonso was fourteenth. Vandoorne was due to return for FP2 after the opening session. Norris’s task was to learn the circuit and provide additional testing feedback.

Force India, the forerunner of Racing Point, put both cars in the top three, with Hartley also inside the top four. Renault’s Sainz finished eighth and Hulkenberg ninth. The differences in speed between teams at Monza were linked to their downforce levels, and a fuller comparison over the weekend was still needed to assess Friday morning’s order.

All 20 drivers recorded official times, with Ericsson sixteenth and Stroll nineteenth. Practice went ahead as scheduled. The official lap totals showed that the teams were at different stages of their test programmes. Vettel completed just four laps, while both Hamilton and Bottas remained below ten.

The official F1 FP1 classification was headed by Pérez in 1:34.000, ahead of Räikkönen and Ocon. Norris replaced Vandoorne and finished twentieth. The table below retains the best times, gaps and lap totals for all 20 drivers. Refer to the official table for the full times and lap counts.