Mercedes debutant Antonelli crashes in first practice

Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashed at high speed on his Formula 1 weekend debut in first practice at the Italian Grand Prix.

The 18-year-old, expected to be confirmed as a Mercedes driver for 2025 in the coming days, lost control on his second flying lap of the session. He was uninjured.

The outing, at his home race, was part of a Mercedes plan to prepare him for his F1 debut.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fastest by 0.228 seconds, with a time set on the soft tyre, from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, on the medium tyre.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was third fastest, from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas.

Second practice gets under way at 16:00 BST.

Antonelli, driving George Russell’s car, spun at Parabolica having apparently taken too much speed into the iconic final corner of the Monza track.

He had just set the fastest middle sector of the session when he lost control and was looking to reclaim the fastest time from team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who had just beaten Antonelli’s first lap by 0.6 seconds.

Mercedes posted on social media after the crash: “All part of the learning curve for Kimi.”

Team principal Toto Wolff said in a BBC Sport interview this week: “He has the talent, the intelligence, the ability, all of it to do it well. And we need to provide an environment if he was in the car that he can learn and develop.

“Clearly with young drivers they make mistakes and they have to learn it sometimes the hard way, and all of that we would expect if we put him in the car.”

Both Ferrari drivers also came close to accidents. Charles Leclerc said he “nearly lost it” at the first Lesmo, adding: “The car is very tricky to drive.”

A few minutes later, team-mate Carlos Sainz had a moment at the Parabolica, having a snap of oversteer mid-corner, but managed to save the moment by running slightly wide – rather than crash as Antonelli did.

Red Bull and Mercedes are both spending Friday comparing floor designs in an attempt to gather answers on their performance in recent races.

Mercedes introduced a new floor at the Belgian Grand Prix, took it off after Friday practice, used it at the Dutch Grand Prix, but still have questions about it.

Hamilton was using the previous specification floor in first practice, with the new one on Antonelli’s car. It will be swapped around when Russell takes the wheel in second practice, Hamilton using the new one and Russell the old.

Red Bull are trying modifications to their floor design, after Verstappen ran at the Dutch Grand Prix with the first generation of floor used this year to try to understand why the car’s balance was no longer satisfactory.

Behind Bottas, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was sixth fastest, from Hamilton, Williams’ Alex Albon, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Argentine Franco Colapinto, on his first outing for Williams after being drafted in to replace Logan Sargeant for the remainder of the season, was 17th fastest.