Russell leads Leclerc, Stroll faces investigation for “dangerous” incident with Norris – RaceFans

George Russell prevented Charles Leclerc from topping each follow periods at Monza as Mercedes confirmed their potential on Friday afternoon.

Regardless of not setting the quickest time in any of the three sectors, Russell headed the desk with a finest lap of 1’22.559 – over two-and-a-half seconds off final 12 months’s tempo. Nonetheless he reported a “bizarre vibration beneath braking” from his entrance suspension on the finish of the session.

His crew mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was third quickest. The championship chief is predicted to serve a penalty tomorrow for an influence unit change.

Lando Norris put his McLaren fourth-fastest, nearly 4 tenths of a second off the tempo, following a near-miss with Lance Stroll. The Aston Martin driver drifted onto the race line as Norris approached him on the quickest level on the observe, forcing the McLaren driver to keep away from a collision by taking to the run-off space.

Norris branded his rival’s transfer “harmful” on his radio. The stewards will examine the incident after the session.

Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri ensured the the three quickest groups stuffed the highest six locations. Max Verstappen was solely ninth for Purple Bull, behind Arvid Lindblad of sister crew Racing Bulls and Oliver Bearman, having fun with improved efficiency in an upgraded Haas. Yuki Tsunoda put the opposite Racing Bulls in tenth.

Franco Colapinto had a scare on the exit of Ascari late within the session as he caught an enormous snap of oversteer at excessive pace. His crew mate Pierre Gasly was solely 14th regardless of being quickest of all by the primary sector.

The opening a part of the lap seems particularly delicate to slipstreams because the vehicles run out {of electrical} vitality so early. A number of automobile topped out at round 330kph lengthy earlier than the top of the straight, then dipped to 320kph earlier than hitting the brakes for the Rettifilo chicane.

Whereas 1.3 seconds coated the highest 17 vehicles, Esteban Ocon lagged additional behind in his Haas, not but having all the identical upgrades as his crew mate. The Aston Martins and Cadillacs stuffed the underside for locations.

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