Here is the full text transcript of our report from the second free practice session for the 2023 F1 Italian GP at Monza:
Like that famous other Italian brand on the grid, Alfa Romeo have a special home livery on their car here. And it looks pretty cool too. But unlike those cars in red, opening practice was a little troubled for the Alfas with technical gremlins creeping in early on, so they’ll be keen to make up for lost time in P2 here.
Sky Sports F1’s Anthony Davidson on Ferrari:
“There’s clearly something missing in their car design and philosophy.
“I see it when they go to medium-speed circuits like Zandvoort and Budapest – that’s its weakness, but I do predict it to be a better car here. History suggest that when they run the car in this configuration of downforce, like at Spa and Montreal, it should be better here.”
59 mins to go: The light goes green at the end of the pit lane and our second session of the day is under way. The first driver out there is Lance Stroll, who sat out the Practice One as Felipe Drugovich fulfilled one of Aston Martin’s allocated young driver practice sessions for the season. But it was not the welcome that Lance Stroll wanted into the weekend. After sitting out P1 so Felipe Drugovich could get time in the Aston Martin seat, Stroll has pulled up on the side of the track exiting Ascari after losing drive: “The car is stuck in eighth gear,” says Anthony Davidson. It did seem as though Aston Martin would attempt to fire the car back up, but that’s not now the case and the stricken green machine is instead being pushed off track by the marshals. Certainly not what Lance needed given he missed P1.
50 mins to go: Only two drivers managed to complete laps before that red flag came out, and both were Alfa Romeos. Zhou Guanyu did a 1:24.755, while Valtteri Bottas was almost seven seconds quicker. We’re back under way in one minute, and you can be pretty sure the top of that timesheet will be changing!
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46 mins to go: Alfa Romeos moment in the Italian sunshine has come to an abrupt end. It’s the world championship leader, Max Verstappen, who shoots to the top of the timesheet once more. A 1:22.259 for the Red Bull has put him half a tenth ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon, who continues to impress.
40 mins to go: That will delight the vast majority of the fans in the grandstands in Monza. Carlos Sainz goes fastest with a 1:21.565, and Charles Leclerc slots in behind him, almost 0.3s back from the Spaniard’s effort. Sainz is almost 0.7s clear of Verstappen, who might have a response to those laps up his sleeve.
30 mins to go: There’s some movement near the top of the timesheet as Fernando Alonso climbs above the Red Bulls into third. Further back, Logan Sargeant has joined Williams team-mate Alex Albon in the top 10 by going eighth.
26 mins to go: Sergio Perez goes fastest with a 1:21.540, with a little help from his team-mate Max Verstappen who provided a tow up the home straight. Max Verstappen can only go third as he’s held up by traffic in the middle sector a lap later.
20 mins to go: He had slid off the track at the second chicane a few minutes ago, but Carlos Sainz has collected it all back up since and returned to the top of the timesheet. He’s now down to 1:21.355, on soft tyres. That’s 0.185s quicker than Sergio Perez in the lead Red Bull, but only 0.019s ahead of Lando Norris who has moved into second for McLaren. Oscar Piastri is behind Perez in fourth, with Verstappen 0.276s back in fifth. Competitive stuff at the moment!
Not for the first time this season, we’ve just heard Max Verstappen engage in a healthy debate with his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. After having that qualifying simulation wrecked by traffic in the middle sector, Max Verstappen wanted to go again. He said that he wanted to get a “proper read”, or was it just that he likes being top of the timesheet, even in practice? In any case, he has followed the order in the end, and looks set to finish behind his usual 2023 placing.
7 mins to go: That’s really not what Sergio needed. At all. The Red Bull driver ran wide entering the final corner, rally-crossed through the gravel as he grappled for control, and then slithered backwards towards the barrier. “That’s probably done a lot of damage to that car underneath,” says Anthony Davidson. Perez is out of the car and his session, needless to say, is over. We’ll see if we still have enough time for any green-flag running.
The marshals have done a fantastic job of clearing Perez’s car away and we’re back under way for the final four minutes of the session. There was a big queue in the pit lane to get going again! We’re not going to see any more quicker laps, but the final throes of this session will still be useful for the drivers and teams to gain some final on-track data for tomorrow.
Chequered Flag: That’s it for Day One at the Temple of Speed. And it’s not Max Verstappen and Red Bull who finish fastest. That honour goes to Scuderia Ferrari and our very own Carlos Sainz – who will send the Tifosi home very encouraged indeed. A false dawn? We’ll see tomorrow, but it’s looking competitive so far with McLaren very much in the mix too.
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