Verstappen top as Antonelli crashes in Italian GP practice

MONZA, Italy :Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli, expected to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season, crashed on his Formula One practice debut at the Italian Grand Prix on Friday while Max Verstappen went fastest.
Red Bull’s championship leader Verstappen, winner at Monza for the past two years, was 0.228 quicker than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on a sunny afternoon at the circuit near Milan.
McLaren’s Lando Norris, Verstappen’s closest title challenger but still a hefty 70 points behind, set the third best time.
Antonelli, who turned 18 last Sunday, brought the session to a halt after 10 minutes when the rear of the Mercedes snapped out of line at high-speed Parabolica and the car spun off into the barriers.
Replacing race regular George Russell for the session on a track completely resurfaced from last year, he had made an encouraging start with a clean first lap as the early pacesetter.
“Sorry,” he said over the radio before getting out and walking away.
“Kimi, all good,” said team boss Toto Wolff in reply.
The car was brought back to the pits for repair, with Russell due to take over for the second session at the ‘Temple of Speed’.
Antonelli went to the medical centre for checks and the team hoped to have the car ready for second practice later on Friday.
“It’s unfortunate it ended the way it did. But he was on the limit, pushing the limit from lap one, that’s always good to see and it’s all part of the learning curve,” team spokesman Bradley Lord told Sky Sports television.
Antonelli is expected to be confirmed by Mercedes imminently as the replacement for seven-times world champion Hamilton, who is moving to Ferrari at the end of the season.
Verstappen’s time of one minute 21.676 seconds was nearly a second faster than last year’s opening session when he was also top in 1:22.657.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, on pole last year, was fourth fastest with Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas fifth, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri sixth and Hamilton seventh.
“For us, it is no different to always,” said McLaren principal Andrea Stella. “There will be four teams in contention to win the race and practice one has shown some outliers as well.
“It could be some midfield cars join the party at the top.”
Alex Albon was eighth fastest for Williams, who had Argentine Franco Colapinto in action and 17th quickest after the team dropped under-performing American Logan Sargeant.
Colapinto also lost control at Parabolica late in the session and went into the gravel but kept the car going and returned to the pits.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was only ninth and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completed the top 10.