Bottas, Hamilton fastest at Monza

MONZA: Mercedes dominated Italian Grand Prix practice yesterday with Valtteri Bottas pipping teammate Lewis Hamilton for the fastest lap of the day, with Ferrari’s Formula One leader Sebastian Vettel the best of the rest.

Hamilton was quickest in a cloudy morning session with some rain, clocking a lap of one minute 21.537 seconds while Bottas was second, but the tables were turned in the dry afternoon running.

The Finn pulled out a 1:21.406 while Hamilton was 0.056 slower.

Vettel, seven points clear of his British rival, was third in both sessions with the gap closing in the afternoon to just 0.140. He had been more than a second slower in the opening 90 minutes at Ferrari’s home track.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was fourth fastest in practice one and two.

The Ferrari fans will take heart that Mercedes also looked strong in Belgian Grand Prix practice at Spa last weekend. Ferrari closed the gap, with Vettel on Hamilton’s tail throughout the race.

They will also be buoyed by the fact that no driver has won two races in a row this season.

The Red Bull pairing of Australian Daniel Ricciardo and Dutch teenager Max Verstappen followed in fifth and sixth places, but both face grid penalties after today’s qualifying because of power unit changes.

Verstappen will have a drop of 15 positions while Ricciardo, who finished third in Belgium last weekend, has a 20 place penalty.

In a surprising move up for struggling McLaren, Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne was seventh quickest and Fernando Alonso eighth. Alonso also has a 35-place grid penalty, however.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who also has a 10 place grid penalty, ended the second session early when his Toro Rosso suffered an engine failure.

The virtual safety car was deployed near the close when Kevin Magnussen’s Haas stopped on track with a broken suspension. – Reuters See results panel below for yesterday’s practice times