Mercedes impress in first practice at Monza
Even though Sebastian Vettel pleased the home crowd by going third fastest in the morning session at Monza, there were some frustrated faces at the Scuderia with the fastest Ferrari a massive 1.5s behind Lewis Hamilton.
Behind Hamilton was Nico Rosberg, nearly 5 tenths down on his teammate, but still comfortably ahead of any other competition.
Force India were well in the mix with Hulkenberg 4th and Perez 5th fastest. The team had predicted they would go well around Monza, given they found their car to work well at medium to high speed circuits.
The second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen completes the top 6, followed by Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull, the Williams duo and Pastor Maldonado.
Overall there were few issues, apart from some off-track excursions and spins, with Carlos Sainz halfway in the session causing a red flag for beaching his Toro Rosso at Parabolica.
Results
| Pos. | .No. | .Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:24.670 | - | 25 |
| 2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:25.133 | +0.463s | 22 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:26.258 | +1.588s | 17 |
| 4 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:26.612 | +1.942s | 19 |
| 5 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:26.730 | +2.060s | 29 |
| 6 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:26.783 | +2.113s | 16 |
| 7 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:26.922 | +2.252s | 27 |
| 8 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:26.936 | +2.266s | 22 |
| 9 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:27.075 | +2.405s | 25 |
| 10 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:27.118 | +2.448s | 28 |
| 11 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:27.232 | +2.562s | 21 |
| 12 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:27.275 | +2.605s | 29 |
| 13 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:27.454 | +2.784s | 17 |
| 14 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:27.591 | +2.921s | 27 |
| 15 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Lotus | 1:27.669 | +2.999s | 28 |
| 16 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:27.907 | +3.237s | 8 |
| 17 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Mclaren | 1:28.023 | +3.353s | 11 |
| 18 | 22 | Jenson Button | Mclaren | 1:28.423 | +3.753s | 12 |
| 19 | 28 | Will Stevens | Marussia | 1:29.853 | +5.183s | 22 |
| 20 | 98 | Roberto Merhi | Marussia | 1:29.911 | +5.241s | 12 |
