Valtteri Bottas led a Mercedes one-two as Max Verstappen found the barrier during Practice 1 at the Italian Grand Prix.
Despite the limit on engine modes not applying until qualifying, the German manufacturer set a rapid pace around Monza with Bottas posting a 1m20.703s to lead teammate Lewis Hamilton by a quarter of a second.
The Finn was eight-tenths clear of Alex Albon in third for Red Bull, this after Verstappen’s session was compromised by an off at the Ascari chicane which caused a brief red flag.
Max was able to recover out of the gravel trap with only a broken front wing and a damaged floor, but as he switched to the soft tyre following the mid-session lull, the Dutchman could only manage fifth, almost a second off the pace.
Also running strongly in FP1 was Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri, with Daniil Kvyat fourth and Pierre Gasly sixth for the Faenza-based outfit.
Lap times in the midfield were as tight as expected with half a second covering Albon in third to Esteban Ocon in 12th for Renault.
In that group sat Sergio Perez, both Renaults, both McLarens and Charles Leclerc in 11th for Ferrari.
The two Alfa Romeo’s and two Haas’ were covered by two-tenths in P14-17.
Williams development driver Roy Nissany 18th, three-tenths clear of race driver Nicholas Latifi.
Struggling the most though was Sebastian Vettel as the German, in his last race at Monza for Ferrari, was only 19th after being seen skipping a few chicanes along the way.
Full results from Practice 1 can be seen below:
