A fully focused Nico Rosberg topped the times ahead of his Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton in Friday’s opening free practice for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
Advertisement
The triple world champion, who is bidding to become the first driver since Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s to secure a hat-trick of consecutive wins at Monza, was incredibly almost half-a-second faster than Rosberg.
Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton heads to this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix knowing that a hat-trick of successive wins at Monza will put him in charge of the title race after one of the most roller-coaster seasons of his career.
This time around, Wehrlein was able to not only edge into Q2 by 0.065 seconds, but he then qualified P14 ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr. “We couldn’t have done it on our own”, he said, adding that “Ecclestone also showed patience, a sign that Monza is important for him too”.
“It looks like a repeat of yesterday’s electrical problem, but we’re taking a good look and exploring everything to make sure that doesn’t happen again tomorrow”.
But he said the man who became the youngest ever race victor in Spain this year on his Red Bull debut, and started on the front row in Belgium last weekend, was clearly an exceptional talent. Rosberg once led this championship by a margin of 43, but with the momentum stacked in Hamilton’s favour, that will seem like an age ago to the German now.
“I only had one [pizza] last night not one and a half, normally when I come here I have two a night”, he said on Skysports.
Ferrari, who won three races in 2015 with Germany’s Sebastian Vettel, have drawn a blank with champions Mercedes winning 12 of the 13 rounds so far and Red Bull the other.
Ten minutes later, Rosberg went top briefly only for Hamilton to regain control with his best lap, both drivers running on super-soft tyres to simulate conditions for qualifying later on Saturday.
The duo managed to do nearly 20 laps on the rubber before pitting, with Hamilton taking the softs and Rosbergs the mediums to continue long-run data gathering. “It is a work in progress but it is going in the right direction and I think we will have a good battle”.
Esteban Ocon’s Manor auto stopped at the first chicane in Q1 and Kevin Magnussen’s Renault was again all over the track, as both were eliminated early on.
Max Verstappen, Jenson Button, and Sergio Perez tested out a protective halo device created to reduce the risk of head injuries, following the deaths of F1 driver Jules Bianchi and British IndyCar driver Justin Wilson past year.
Hamilton said he was “incredibly proud and honoured” to have matched Senna and Fangio.
Sergio Perez finished ninth for Force India as the team continued to struggle to match its pace from Spa.
Advertisement
“It’s been a good day in general because straight from the beginning I felt comfortable in the vehicle and we got the balance pretty much right, so it’s very different to Spa”, he said.
