Italian Grand Prix: Practice Recap

Temperatures were soaring in Milan as FP1 commenced early afternoon – air temp hitting 33 degrees Celsius (91.4 degrees Fahrenheit), while track temp peaked at 51 degrees Celsius (123.8 degrees Fahrenheit). Under the full glare of the sun MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg kicked off track activities with baseline runs on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires.

They switched onto the Red soft compound next – with Magnussen posting a 1:22.572 to go P11 on the session. Hulkenberg failed to get a clean lap in on the fresh rubber – the German’s best time, a 1:23.157, coming on his earlier set of mediums to hold P19 at the checkered.

Conditions remained balmy for the start of FP2 – the second 60-minute practice held late afternoon. Magnussen’s session was cut short following an off at Turn 7. The Dane was unscathed in the incident but the same couldn’t be said for his stricken VF-24 – a red flag stop required to remove it from the scene. Magnussen was running a quali sim on the soft tires when he went off, having earlier set a best lap of 1:21.499 for P12. Hulkenberg started his run plan on medium tires before switching onto a set of fresh softs. A 1:21.140 duly netted P7 on the timesheets. Hulkenberg closed out the day bolting on his used mediums for a high-fuel stint.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team ran a total of 81 laps on Friday across FP1 and FP2 – Hulkenberg (48), Magnussen (33).



Nico Hulkenberg:

“It’s been a good Friday. It’s still the Monza that we know despite the new curbs. Of course, it’s a bit different in the detail here and there but I think the old DNA of the track is still there and coming through. I had a good feeling with the car straightaway this morning and had some decent running in FP2, especially in the heat. I think tires are going to be a big subject on Sunday during the race in terms of management and graining, but at the moment I feel good. Tonight, we’ll try to further optimize the most competitive package on the road. In the midfield, we’re fighting a lot of teams and there are very fine margins, so in qualifying execution is going to be key and it will be important to stay clean.”

Kevin Magnussen:

“I lost it on entry into the corner carrying too much speed and had a moment on the rear. It was a pretty snappy moment, I wasn’t quick enough to catch it and spun off into the wall. Luckily, there isn’t a lot of damage to the car; we have to change the front wing, but we’ll go again. It’s not what you want to do, I missed out on my long run which always has useful data but we’ll make it work. Often with new tarmac there’s high grip but it's very peaky grip – so when you have a moment – it’s going to be big and you have to be quick to react and catch it. We have a positive feeling with the car and with outright pace, but it’s so tight that it could turnaround so you have to be very clean and just nail it.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“It was a big challenge with the new track surface, but I think we reacted pretty well. We anticipated from our track measurements and made certain decisions on the set-up for FP1 – which I think we overcooked a little bit – but then from driver comments and what we see on the data, we adjusted well for FP2. Both drivers are happy with the changes we made for FP2 so that was a good job and recovery from everyone concerned.

“Our low-fuel pace was decent. It’s really a shame that Kevin overcooked it at the Lesmo corners and had a shunt because he lost his front wing, so he won’t be running the new-spec front wing tomorrow, and Nico will continue to run the new one. We continued to improve our high-fuel pace from FP1, and although we have a bit more work to do, we’ve made a good step.”

Today's Data:

Event: Free Practice 1 & 2 for the Italian Grand Prix – Friday August 30
Location: Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy 
Layout: 5.793-kilometer (3.6-mile), 11-turn circuit
FP1 & FP2 Weather: Sunny
Drivers: Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen

Free Practice 1 (FP1) Rundown:

Magnussen: 11th overall (1:22.572), 22 laps 
Hulkenberg: 19th overall (1:23.157), 23 laps 
Fastest: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:21.676)

Free Practice 2 (FP2) Rundown:

Hulkenberg: 7th overall (1:21.140), 25 laps  
Magnussen: 12th overall (1:21.499), 11 laps
Fastest: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:20.738)