Carlos Sainz will take a grid penalty due to an engine change on Sunday, after leading Friday practice with a time of 1:21.664. The Spaniard edged Max Verstappen by a tenth and narrowly outpaced Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc by almost two tenths, signaling a strong start for Ferrari in Monza despite the upcoming punishment.
Ferrari under review
In the morning session, Ferrari led the pack with Leclerc posting the best time, just seven thousandths ahead of Sainz. The Maranello team has watched Verstappen pull away in recent races at Hungaroring, Spa and Zandvoort, and much of Friday’s running was devoted to testing a revised floor and comparing it to the old specification. The aim was to quantify any performance gap versus Red Bull. “The experiments yielded encouraging results,” noted Marc Gené, expressing satisfaction with the stability of the F1-75 on Friday.
There was a quick glimpse of pace from Sainz as he clocked competitive laps, even as practice remained fluid ahead of the weekend’s key sessions. A glance at the times showed the battle lines forming, with Sainz keeping pace as the team prepared for Saturday’s activities and the inevitable Saturday night adjustments ahead of Sunday’s race.
On Thursday, Sainz spoke about the team’s path forward: “We still need to understand racing speed and find ways to improve our competitiveness. We’ve seen Mercedes take a big step forward, and Red Bull has continued strong performance in recent races.” With one more lap left on Friday, the Madrilenian demonstrated strong pace, underscoring Ferrari’s intent to challenge across all sessions. He knows he must regain rhythm after the engine change penalty that places him at the back for Sunday’s start.
Carlos is the fastest
Verstappen, unable to complete a rapid lap early due to traffic, delivered an impressive afternoon showing, posting an interim best of 1:22.309 and edging Leclerc by a slim margin. The evening session was briefly halted when Mick Schumacher’s Haas encountered a precautionary issue, but play resumed with Sainz storming to the fastest time of the day, improving to 1:21.664 and narrowing Verstappen’s advantage to a few hundredths of a second.
“For the car!” was the spirit among the garage as Schumacher’s Haas was seen in the mix, while the real focus remained on Sainz’s performance and Ferrari’s ability to translate it into a strong qualifying and race result. With Verstappen facing a five-place grid penalty on Sunday for power unit changes, Leclerc rose to third, 0.193 seconds off Sainz, and enters the home grand prix with renewed confidence and expectation from the tifosi.
Penalty carousel unfolded as teams adjusted power units and transmissions across the grid. Sainz and Verstappen highlighted the complexities of engine and ICE changes, while Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez, Yuki Tsunoda, and Valtteri Bottas also faced sanctions in the same round of updates. The headlines kept turning as each team weighed its strategic options for the weekend at Monza.
On his first run at Monza, Fernando Alonso, driving for Alpine, finished inside the top ten. The Spaniard gave the fans a sign of progress as the single-seater took another step forward in the battle for fourth place in the World Championship standings, signaling Alpine’s intent to push for strong results in this crucial sprint toward the end of the season.
The Friday timesheet, in full, showed a tight field with Sainz topping the board at 1:21.664, Verstappen second at 1:21.807, and Leclerc close behind at 1:21.857. Norris, Russell, Perez, Hamilton, Ocon, Alonso, and Albon rounded out the top ten in a session that promised plenty of drama as teams prepared for the weekend’s key strategic decisions. The rest of the order included Ricciardo, Zhou, Bottas, Gasly, Tsunoda, Magnussen, Vettel, Lance Stroll, Latifi, and Schumacher as session positions evolved with the track conditions and varying fuel loads, all chasing critical data for Sunday’s duel on the Italian tarmac.