30/08/2024
NEWS STORY
The team took to the resurfaced Autodromo Nazionale Monza for the opening day of on-track running ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.
Kimi Antonelli made his race weekend F1 debut in FP1 at Monza, taking the place of George Russell.
Unfortunately, his session came to an early end as he suffered a sizeable accident into Parabolica. Lewis completed his work on the Soft compound tyre, finishing the session in P7.
George returned to the car for FP2, getting out onto circuit 20 minutes into the session after the mechanics had repaired the W15. He completed work on both the Medium and Soft compounds, although a mid-session red flag limited his running to 20 laps.
Lewis also ran on both the yellow and red-walled tyres, using the Soft tyre to post the fastest lap time of the day. The team has plenty of data to run through this evening ahead of returning to the circuit tomorrow for FP3.
Lewis Hamilton: I'm happy that Kimi was OK as that was a big accident. The main thing that matters is that he was OK. In terms of our car performance, it's been a good day. This new tarmac and the smoother kerbs have presented an interesting challenge, but the car has felt good from the start. There seemed to be some graining up and down the field in FP1 and people struggling with the tyres. We made some solid changes ahead of FP2 and the car took a step forward in that final hour. There's still some work for us to do overnight both here and at the factory, particularly around the long run, so we can be as competitive as possible over the rest of the weekend.
George Russell: Firstly, I'm glad to see that Kimi was OK. It's never nice to see a crash that size and the first thing that matters is that he wasn't hurt. The mechanics did a great job to get the car ready for FP2. We got a good 30 minutes of running before and after the red flag so a big thank you to them.
The car seems to be looking good. Lewis did a great job to top the timing screens. I had a couple of push lap efforts at the end of FP2 but was mainly focused on the long run. The resurfaced track meant that it looked to be ramping up quite a lot throughout the day. We need to be alive to it evolving over the rest of the weekend. We've got a lot of good data to go through, even though it wasn't the most productive Friday I've ever had on my side.
Kimi Antonelli: It's been quite a day here in Monza. Unfortunately, my first FP1 session ended quite quickly with a big crash. It was measured at 52G, so it was a heavy one. I am not feeling 100% so I will have an easy night this evening and rest ahead of the rest of the weekend. I am sorry to the team and to George as it is not how we wanted the hour to go. It was a pure mistake from my side where I was pushing just a bit too hard for the conditions. I should have built into the speed more progressively and it is something I will learn from.
I am still thankful to the team for making it possible for me to drive in FP1. It was great to drive in front of the tifosi and be on track with all the other drivers.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: We've had a busy day here in Monza. Kimi's accident luckily didn't do any damage to him, but the car took a big hit. Repairing it ate into George's session a little bit. That cost us some learning but we'll hopefully recover that ground in FP3 tomorrow.
Lewis had two strong sessions. The car seems to be working well, but there is not much to choose between the top few teams; it all looks very tight and from today's data there doesn't seem to be more than a couple of tenths separating the front of the field. For the race, managing the tyres looks like it is going to be a challenge. The new surface is causing quite high degradation and as soon as you push hard, the tyres start to drop. It is not an easy track to employ the necessary management without leaving yourself vulnerable to being overtaking, but it should lead to an interesting race.