Max starts Monza with P8 in FP1

Published on 02 September 2016 by Stefan Meens

Max Vestappen opened his Italian Grand Prix weekend with an eighth place in the first free practice session. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton dominated the session with both Mercedes over a second clear off the rest of the field.

During FP1, in which Max stuck to his new helmet design first introduced in Spa-Francorchamps last week, the Dutchman drove an installation lap with the so-called Halo head protection. It was the 18-year-old's first run with the safety device, which is set to be introduced in 2018. Force India's Sergio Perez and Jenson Button (McLaren) also tried the Halo.

With the high speed/low downforce characteristic of the Autodromo di Monza, quite a few drivers pushed their cars over the limit in FP1, most notably at Ascari. Both Red Bulls had a minor excursion at the fast chicane but without any serious consequences. Max Verstappen's team mainly focussed on long runs on the soft and medium tyres, gaining valuable data and trackt ime for the remainder of the weekend.

Italian Grand Prix - Monza - Friday 3 September 2016

RESULTS FREE PRACTICE 1

01  6 Nico Rosberg        Mercedes                    1:22.959           37
02 44 Lewis Hamilton      Mercedes                    1:23.162  +0.203s  36
03  7 Kimi Räikkönen      Ferrari                     1:24.047  +1.088s  16
04  5 Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari                     1:24.307  +1.348s  17
05 11 Sergio Perez        Force India Mercedes        1:24.650  +1.691s  32
06  8 Romain Grosjean     Haas Ferrari                1:24.763  +1.804s  17
07 77 Valtteri Bottas     Williams Mercedes           1:24.785  +1.826s  37
08 33 Max Verstappen      Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:24.982  +2.023s  25
09 21 Esteban Gutierrez   Haas Ferrari                1:25.113  +2.154s  19
10  3 Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer   1:25.120  +2.161s  17
11 22 Jenson Button       McLaren Honda               1:25.351  +2.392s  23
12 34 Alfonso Celis       Force India Mercedes        1:25.367  +2.408s  30
13 14 Fernando Alonso     McLaren Honda               1:25.507  +2.548s  14
14 19 Felipe Massa        Williams Mercedes           1:25.840  +2.881s  18
15  9 Marcus Ericsson     Sauber Ferrari              1:25.853  +2.894s  20
16 55 Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso Ferrari          1:25.973  +3.014s  20
17 26 Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso Ferrari          1:26.074  +3.115s  20
18 31 Esteban Ocon        MRT Mercedes                1:26.391  +3.432s  30
19 12 Felipe Nasr         Sauber Ferrari              1:26.439  +3.480s  21
20 94 Pascal Wehrlein     MRT Mercedes                1:26.762  +3.803s  28
21 30 Jolyon Palmer       Renault                     1:26.811  +3.852s  35
22 20 Kevin Magnussen     Renault                     1:26.956  +3.997s  32

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