F1: Mercedes drivers top Friday practice at Monza

    Hamilton topped morning practice but an electronic issue meant he was forced to miss most of the afternoon session, lead by Rosberg.

    Published On Sep 05, 2014 11:00:00 PM

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    F1: Mercedes drivers top Friday practice at Monza

    After Lewis Hamilton's domination of first Friday practice at Monza, teammate Nico Rosberg topped the afternoon session for the Italian Grand Prix, but his title rival Hamilton pushed him hard despite car problems.

    Rosberg set the pace during the early stages of the session on the slower hard-compound Pirelli, shading Fernando Alonso by four thousandths of a second.

    The Mercedes driver then switched to the medium Pirellis, improving his fastest time by just over half a second, setting a best of 1m26.225s.

    While Rosberg was completing a normal programme, Hamilton spent the first hour of the session in the garage while the Mercedes team chased an electronic problem that prevented the car from firing up.

    Hamilton then completed a brief three-lap run on the hard Pirellis before bolting on the faster mediums.

    He managed to set a time just 61 thousandths of a second slower than Rosberg, posting the fastest time in the middle sector in the process.

    With the tyre degradation mild, Hamilton was able to have another serious attempt at improving, but was unable to do so.

    This relegated Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen to third, 0.106s off Rosberg.

    The Finn out-paced team-mate Alonso, who might have set a better time but for a small error under braking.

    Raikkonen, too, showed he potentially had even more pace, setting the fastest time of all in the first sector before an error meant he had no chance of improving on that lap.

    Williams driver Valtteri Bottas was fifth fastest, just ahead of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who lost time with a mistake in the Parabolica on his quickest lap.

    McLaren pairing Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen were seventh and eighth fastest, the former setting an identical time to Vettel but being classified behind him as the reigning world champion set his lap first.

    Felipe Massa and Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10, which was covered by just three quarters of a second.

    Force India pairing Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg just missed out on the top 10, in 11th and 12th, ahead of the best of the Toro Rossos, driven by Daniil Kvyat.

    The top 16 were covered by just 1.804s, with Esteban Gutierrez, Jean-Eric Vergne and Adrian Sutil all in that group.

    That left a pack of six cars cast adrift at the back, with Jules Bianchi's Marussia the quickest of those, 2.424s off the pace.

    The group also included the Lotus-Renaults of Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean, the latter having missed the morning session to allow Charles Pic to take over and then having a wild trip through the gravel while on his first run on hards early in the session.

    Caterham pairing Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson were 21st and 22nd.

    A number of drivers had off-track moments during the session and were forced to cut chicanes, with Rosberg, Hamilton, Ricciardo and Button among those who did so.

    PosDriverCarTimeGapTotal laps
    1Nico RosbergMercedes1m26.225s-41
    2Lewis HamiltonMercedes1m26.286s0.061s16
    3Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1m26.331s0.106s31
    4Fernando AlonsoFerrari1m26.565s0.340s26
    5Valtteri BottasWilliams/Mercedes1m26.758s0.533s34
    6Jenson ButtonMcLaren/Mercedes1m26.762s0.537s34
    7Sebastian VettelRed Bull/Renault1m26.762s0.537s27
    8Kevin MagnussenMcLaren/Mercedes1m26.881s0.656s44
    9Felipe MassaWilliams/Mercedes1m26.935s0.710s33
    10Daniel RicciardoRed Bull/Renault1m26.992s0.767s37
    11Sergio PerezForce India/Mercedes1m27.079s0.854s42
    12Nico HulkenbergForce India/Mercedes1m27.227s1.002s39
    13Daniil KvyatToro Rosso/Renault1m27.476s1.251s37
    14Esteban GutierrezSauber/Ferrari1m27.840s1.615s33
    15Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso/Renault1m27.929s1.704s33
    16Adrian SutilSauber/Ferrari1m28.029s1.804s35
    17Jules BianchiMarussia/Ferrari1m28.659s2.434s34
    18Pastor MaldonadoLotus/Renault1m28.700s2.475s42
    19Max ChiltonMarussia/Ferrari1m28.786s2.561s29
    20Romain GrosjeanLotus/Renault1m29.085s2.860s29
    21Kamui KobayashiCaterham/Renault1m29.178s2.953s32
    22Marcus EricssonCaterham/Renault1m29.275s3.050s37

     

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