09/09/2022
NEWS STORY
Round 16 of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship started on Friday with practice at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza as teams prepared for Sunday's 53-lap Italian Grand Prix.
Kevin Magnussen was joined in FP1 by Scuderia Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi - with Mick Schumacher ceding his seat to the Italian for the opening practice session. Magnussen and Giovinazzi ran identical track programs working through two sets of Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires. Having banked installation laps, their fastest times arrived on the second set as the track continued to rubber in. Magnussen posted a best of 1:24.006 (P17) with Giovinazzi recording a 1:24.317 (P18). The session was completed with a high-fuel run on used softs.
Schumacher returned in FP2 but it proved to be a short-lived appearance by the German as an ECU connector issue forced him to retire with just nine laps to his name. He ran an opening stint on the White hard tire before setting a 1:24.586 (P20) lap on softs prior to his sudden exit from the session. Magnussen kicked off his run-plan on the Yellow medium compound. The Dane then bolted on softs for his qualifying sim - delivering a fastest effort of 1:23.557 (P16). Friday's track action finished off with a high-fuel run through to the checkered flag.
Haas F1 Team ran a total of 83 laps on Friday across FP1 and FP2 - 49 by Magnussen, 25 by Giovinazzi and 9 by Schumacher.
Kevin Magnussen: "We've approached this weekend like any other one. We know that we're lacking straight-line speed with the aero package that we've got, but we'll deal with it the best we can. I think we're a little stronger in race pace than we are in qualifying, so that's good. Maybe we can try and get into a good position in the race and fight it out from there. For sure qualifying's going to be difficult, that's what it is, but lots of people are taking penalties so we'll see where we end up."
Mick Schumacher: "Unfortunately, we had an ECU issue which wasn't great but these things happen and we just have to do a bit more work tomorrow. I got three fast laps in which isn't much, so we'll definitely have to try to get some more in tomorrow. We'll get onto it quickly because I know this track pretty well so hopefully we'll have a good starting set-up for tomorrow and try our best."
Antonio Giovinazzi: "It was a great experience to be back in a Formula 1 car and for me the first time in this new car. I think the session went well, we did all the laps we had planned, and I got the feeling of the car, the brakes and the tires so I'm really happy with the job. The next time will be in Austin, which will be another type of track as here in Monza it's a low downforce track and Austin will be high downforce with a lot of high speeds. It was a good first time with the car and the team - thanks to Haas and Ferrari for this opportunity and now I'm looking forward to the next one."
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "We knew coming here it's not our best circuit but it wasn't as bad as we anticipated. We had a good session with Kevin, making solid progress over the two sessions. Antonio did a good job in FP1 considering he hasn't been in a Formula 1 car for almost a year. He got straight into it and had a good session - did all the testing work we wanted him to do so we're very happy with what he did. Mick got in, obviously missing one session is never fantastic but having FP2 shortened doesn't make it any better - but we've got one more session for him. It's not ideal but he'll catch-up tomorrow."