Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix Friday Practice: Ferrari Leads, Perez Shines, Ericsson Flies

Rain may have fallen on the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza during the first practice session for this year’s Italian Grand Prix, but it didn’t dampen the spirits of the rambunctious Tifosi in attendance. 

Free Practice One, the only on-track session forecasted to be rainy this weekend—was led by Force India’s Sergio Perez by more than a half second over his closest rival in the downpour, Kimi Räikkönen. As rain setup knowledge has minimal value during a race weekend expected to be dry, few cars ran more than a handful of laps. Even McLaren junior Lando Norris (who borrowed Stoffel Vandoorne’s car) enjoyed relatively little of the session, with his running limited to nine laps.

Scarcely two minutes and one lap into the Free Practice Two, Marcus Ericsson endured a colossal crash at the end of the pit straight, which saw his car unexpectedly spearing left into the wall under braking before tumbling end over end.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=gF4FGyliW9s%3Frel%3D0

Ericsson extricated himself from the car and was taken to the medical center while the session red-flagged, although drivers weren’t done having off-track sojourns for the day. Forty minutes after practice resumed, Sebastian Vettel made a detour of his own, spinning from the Parabolica across the gravel and almost into the tire wall. He was able to recover his Ferrari under its own power.

A full list of each driver’s best practice time can be found below.

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