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Max Verstappen made a strong start to the Italian Grand Prix, where the Dutchman ended the day in second-place, just over a tenth behind Carlos Sainz Jr.

The reigning World Champion spent a lot of time focusing on his race set-up, with the championship leader set for a five-place grid penalty on Sunday for taking a new Internal Combustion Engine. Whilst overtaking is usually difficult at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, it should be somewhat easy for the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver, due to the RB18’s superior top speed.

Verstappen ended Friday believing that the car was “pretty good”, but does recognise that Scuderia Ferrari are also looking mighty fast at their home race.

“I think the car was pretty good today, we’ve been trying a few different things from FP1 to FP2. Some things worked and some didn’t, if you look at the long runs we look good and of course that’s most important for the race.

“We did more long run practice knowing that we have the five place grid penalty on Sunday, everything seemed to work out quite well. There are still a few things that we can do better, but I think we should stand a good chance. The Ferraris look good, I’m not worried about them but we still have a few things to finalise.”

George Russell felt it was a ‘strange’ Friday at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, but he was disappointed to see both Scuderia Ferrari and Oracle Red Bull Racing seemingly pull away from the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team in the second free practice session.

The British racer had ended third fastest in the first session in Italy but fell to fifth in the second, but the gap between him and the fastest time increased from three-tenths of a second to seven-tenths.

Russell felt he was struggling with electrical deployment at Monza on Friday, and he hopes the team will be able to solve that issue ahead of Saturday’s Qualifying session and more so before Sunday’s race.

“Bit of a strange day, FP1 was looking pretty strong but then Ferrari and Red Bull seemed to take a step forward in FP2 and we went a little backwards so we have work to do tonight to understand that,” said Russell.

“Generally speaking, we’re lacking a little electrical deployment here, we’re similar to Red Bull but Ferrari seem to have the upper hand on deployment which might be tricky in a race scenario.”

It was a positive Friday for the McLaren F1 Team at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, with Lando Norris ending an encouraging fourth fastest in the second free practice session.

The British racer was only sixteenth in the opening session but found significantly more pace in the second hour of running, and he was only beaten by Scuderia Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc and Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

Although not yet completely happy, Norris felt the team made progress throughout the day in Italy, and he hopes they can come out on Saturday in similar fashion and find a little bit extra to potentially move themselves even closer to the front of the field.

“Reasonable day. We made good progress through today, so I’m happy with the progress that we’ve made,” said Norris.  “We’re still not where we need to be.

“I don’t think we’re competitive enough yet to really fight confidently for, say, Q3 at the minute. We’ll keep working very hard. I think we’ve understood some things better today, after learning from the past few weeks, but like I said, still not quite where we need to be.

The Italian Grand Prix looks set to be an enthralling one, with six drivers having been awarded grid penalties for Sunday’s race.

The penalties have been awarded to a mixture of the frontrunners and midfield contenders, meaning that a surprise podium could be on the cards at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.

Championship leader Max Verstappen has been awarded a five-place grid penalty for Sunday, after having a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) fitted to his car. Team-mate Sergio Pérez has also had a new ICE fitted to his RB18; however, the Mexican has been awarded with a ten-place grid penalty. It means victory may not be on the cards for Oracle Red Bull Racing, with so much work likely to be needed from both drivers.

Friday’s fastest driver, Carlos Sainz Jr, will start from the back of the grid, after the Spaniard had many gearbox components changed, plus a new ES, control electronics (CE) and MGU-K. Sainz will be joined at the back by Lewis Hamilton, who has taken a new power unit for Monza. Unless he qualifies in the top three, then Valtteri Bottas will also start from the back of the grid, after taking a new power unit following his retirement at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.

Yuki Tsunoda has also been awarded with a thirteen-place grid penalty. He was awarded a ten-place grid penalty for driving around the circuit with his seatbelt undone during the race at Zandvoort last weekend, and has been awarded a further three-place grid penalty and two licence points for ignoring yellow flags during Free Practice Two today.

An extremely high-pressure FIA Formula 3 qualifying for the top seven in the championship, began with the three Jenzer motorsport cars making their way onto the track, as the whole grid sported the soft tyres for the first time this weekend.

Championship leader Victor Martins struggled in his first flying lap as he was forced to make his way through the bollards at turn one after misjudging his breaking point.

When the grid’s first flying laps had been set, it was Roman Stanek who topped the times with a 1:38.431, followed by Jonny Edgar in second.

Improvements were being made up and down the field, but Stanek would remain on top, bettering his first time by 0.324 seconds, as Jonny Edgar and Zane Maloney completed a Trident 1-2-3 with just under twenty minutes remaining in the session.

However, soon enough the session was red flagged, as Isack Hadjar experienced oversteer at turn 11 and was sent hurtling into the barriers, putting an end to his qualifying session.

Scuderia Ferrari have maintained a near-perfect start to their Italian Grand Prix weekend, with Carlos Sainz Jr. topping the timesheet and outpacing the current World Champion and leader in the championship Max Verstappen, with Charles Leclerc finishing third fastest.

Max Verstappen led the way in the RB18 for the first stint of the practice session, quickly setting a lap of 1:23.021 on the medium compound tyres, but it was Sainz who clocked an impressive 1:21.664 by the end of Free Practice 2, leading Verstappen by 0.143s. First Practice pace setter Leclerc was half a tenth slower in third. Verstappen was on track to threaten the Spaniard for that first position, but a hefty and unfortunate lock-up into Turn 1 caused the Dutchman to back off from the pace and lose valuable performance from the medium compound tyres he was running.

Lando Norris, who ran third for a brief moment in the first stint, managed to maintain the pace in his McLaren and finished the session in fourth place, ahead of George Russell and Sergio Perez. Despite Norris’ finish in fourth place the McLaren F1 Team expressed concern about the cars ‘draggy’ nature around the Monza track which seemed to affect Norris’ team-mate Daniel Ricciardo more as he finished the session in eleventh.

Thirty minutes into the session Haas driver Mick Schumacher reported a sudden loss of power, resulting in the session being red flagged with Schumacher retiring from the session and leaving his VF-22 on the side of the track. He finished the session in twentieth, over two seconds off of the pace of Sainz.

Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, who seemingly enjoyed a positive start to the Monza weekend, had both of their drivers less than happy as they tried to maintain pace in their W13. Lewis Hamilton, who finished the session in seventh place, was heard over the radio stating that his car felt ‘very unstable’ and was struggling as he entered Turn 1. Meanwhile, teammate George Russell was concerned as he experienced ‘quite a bit more bottoming on the straight’.

Christian Horner says the talks between Oracle Red Bull Racing and Porsche broke down because the two parties had ‘quite different’ DNA, but their commitment to becoming a powertrain manufacturer within the FIA Formula 1 World Championship remains.

Ahead of the 2022 season, Red Bull took over the intellectual rights of Honda’s powertrain following the decision of the Japanese manufacturer to withdraw from Formula 1, and the Milton Keynes-based team have been building a new building to accommodate their planned engine department.

Talks began between Red Bull and Porsche about becoming partners, which would have allowed the German marque to return to the sport for the first time since the early 1990s.  However, Horner, the Team Principal at Red Bull, says the discussions have now concluded, with Porsche’s request for a fifty-per-cent buy-in of the team proving a sticking point.

“Obviously with Red Bull becoming a powertrain manufacturer in 2026, it was always natural to hold discussions,” said Horner to Motorsport.com.  “Those discussions have now been concluded, and the consensus was that it was not right for Red Bull’s involvement in F1.

“We committed to becoming a powertrain manufacturer a year and a half ago, or just over that. We’ve invested massively in facilities and people and the first Red Bull engine fired up approximately a month ago.

Porsche’s planned partnership with Oracle Red Bull Racing from 2026 has been abandoned, with the two parties unable to find solutions to differing opinions.

The Volkswagen Group had approved Porsche’s return to the FIA Formula 1 World Championship when the new engine regulations come in in 2026, and Red Bull were always the intended partners with them.

However, Porsche’s bid to take over fifty-per-cent of the Red Bull team was the major reason behind the decision to break off talks, with the German marque releasing a statement saying they will no longer be pursuing the partnership with the Milton Keynes-based team.

“In the course of the last few months, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG and Red Bull GmbH have held talks on the possibility of Porsche’s entry into Formula 1,” read a statement from Porsche.

“The two companies have now jointly come to the conclusion that these talks will no longer be continued.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Italian Grand Prix got off to the perfect start as Charles Leclerc topped the time sheets of Free Practice One while his teammate, Carlos Sainz, was second fastest in the opening session of the weekend.

After the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, all team personnel across the grid wore black armbands and observed a minute’s silence as a mark of respect. Tributes were also visible on a number of cars as FIA Formula 1 World Championship pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II.

Championship leader Max Verstappen finished the first practice session in fifth-place, over four-tenths of a second behind the fastest time of the session. The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver was on course for a time that would have challenged Leclerc’s fastest lap but a slow-moving Lando Norris at the Curva Parabolica heavily compromised the Dutchmen’s lap time.

Once again Sergio Perez finds himself trailing his teammate, as the Mexican set the fourteenth-fastest time of the session, over eight-tenths of a second behind his teammate.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team enjoyed a positive start to the weekend as both drivers were able to finish the session inside the top four. George Russell was third fastest, two and a half tenths behind the fastest time of the session, while Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest, just over a tenth behind the pace set by his Mercedes teammate.

The drivers headed out on to the wet Monza track for the final practice of the FIA Formula season, to get some important laps in ahead of the qualifying session later on this afternoon, as seven drivers are still in contention for the Formula 3 title.

After first laps had been set by most drivers, and the virtual safety car period that had commenced due Federico Malevesti’s car coming to a halt at the side of the track, it was an ART 1-2 at the top of the timing sheets. 

However, championship leader Victor Martins was not one of them, as Gregoire Saucy led the way, followed by Juan Manuel Correa.

Soon enough, a dry line began to appear on the track, as Zak O’Sullivan set the first lap time in the 1.49’s, despite a wobbly moment on the exit of Ascari.

Many drivers then headed to the pits to put on slick tyres, in an attempt to improve their lap times that they had set on the wet tyres.

Team Principal of Haas F1 Team, Guenther Steiner, claims that the team are ‘not in a position’ to fight at high-speed, low downforce tracks this year, which will result in a difficult Italian Grand Prix for the team at the sixteenth race of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

The American outfit has opted for two sets of Hard (C2) tyres, three sets of Medium (C3) tyres, and eight sets of Soft (C4) tyres for the weekend allocation, as the final race of the current triple header approaches. Steiner did, however, start his Italian Grand Prix preview with a reflection of last weekend’s race at Zandvoort, where bad luck cost the team a better result.

“We knew that our car in Zandvoort should be performing well because the track has high-speed and medium-speed corners – a little bit like Silverstone and Austria – where we performed pretty well. Mick got the best out of it I’d say, and it was very good of him to get into Q3.

“Unfortunately, Kevin didn’t get used to the track to put a good performance in, he was getting there but we just ran out of time for him. All in all, we know that the car is performing, we just needed to get a little bit lucky, and we could’ve had points on Sunday, but qualifying was not too bad.”

When asked about the pit wall’s morale when a race doesn’t go to plan, the fifty-seven-year-old expressed the team’s determination to continue:

Kevin Magnussen says that Haas F1 Team will not be changing their approach to racing in this week’s Italian Grand Prix; while also complimenting the ‘exhilarating’ nature of the classic track. The American outfit has failed to score points in the last four FIA Formula 1 World Championship races but enjoyed a haul of fourteen points in Austria, which they will be hoping to replicate this weekend.

“We won’t be taking a different approach into the weekend – Monza is a great race, one of the favorites, certainly in my book. The atmosphere, the track, the history of the place, it just is a special feeling racing there. It’s also a super racing friendly track, there’s lots of slipstreaming and always a very unique form of racing in Monza,” Magnussen explained.

When asked how historic circuits such as Spa-Francorchamps, Zandvoort, and Monza compare to newer circuits, the number twenty driver described the road surface as being a big factor in the enjoyment of the circuit.

“I think it’s ok to have a mix with old and new, but I do tend to prefer the old ones because they were built differently. Nowadays, tracks are built very efficiently, smooth, flat and wide. When you get to a track like Zandvoort, Mugello, Monza or Suzuka, you really feel the difference and it tends to be more exciting and more exhilarating.

“You let your mind think about what it must’ve been like back in the day and also the old tracks that we race on now have been updated. It was just different back then and the tracks that still exist from back then still have some of that character in them.”

The final round of the FIA Formula 3 season takes place in Monza this weekend, and with the top six drivers only being separated by fifteen points, the stage is set for a historic finale.

Monza returns to the calendar for the first time since 2020, where new Mclaren recruit Oscar Piastri took victory.

Leading the championship is ART GP’s Victor Martins. The Frenchman sat third in the standings heading into round eight in Zandvoort, but he regained his lead after picking up twenty points, after a seventh place finish in race one and a second place finish in race two.

Martins is in his second season in Formula 3, so this experience could be key in beating out the rookies in the high stakes final round.

One of these rookies battling for the title, is the current occupant of second place, Isack Hadjar. The seventeen year old has the most race wins of any driver in F3 this season, and despite picking up a solid fifteen points in Zandvoort, he still trails Martins by five points in the standings. 

Matt Mills was initially due to run Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway in the #5 Chevrolet Camaro for B.J. McLeod Motorsports, but his body refused to let him get behind the wheel. With Mills sidelined by the flu, Garrett Smithley will make his second series start of 2022 in Mills’ place.

Smithley finished twenty-first in his first Xfinity race of the year at Charlotte with DGM Racing. His part-time duty has also produced four Cup Series starts with Rick Ware Racing, with a best finish of twenty-first at Fontana, and a DNQ in the Camping World Truck Series at Texas with Young’s Motorsports.

He raced full-time in the Xfinity Series from 2016 to 2019 for JD Motorsports, during which he notched five top tens with a highest points placement of eighteenth in his first year. The next three years saw him increase his focus on the Cup Series with RWR and other teams in spot starts.

While Smithley has never raced for BJMM in the Xfinity Series, he ran the 2020 GEICO 500 with BJMM and finished thirty-fourth.

Mills has run fourteen races in 2022 with a pair of top twenties (eighteenth at Martinsville and twentieth at Charlotte). He also attempted five Truck races with Young’s Motorsports with a fifteenth at Las Vegas.

After claiming the Indy Pro 2000 championship, Louis Foster will continue his ascension through the Road to Indy ladder with one of the top organisations in open-wheel racing. On Thursday, Andretti Autosport announced Foster has joined the team for the 2023 Indy Lights season.

Foster entered the Road to Indy in 2022 after enjoying success in European formula racing. After finishing second in the 2018 Ginetta Junior Championship, he won six times in the British Formula 4 Championship before moving up to British Formula 3 and the Euroformula Open Championships. In his final year in Europe, he was runner-up for the Euroformula Open title.

Driving for Exclusive Autosport and the lone British full-timer on the Indy Pro 2000 grid, he scored seven wins—the most of any driver—and won the title by sixty-one points over runner-up Reece Gold.

“As a driver, you always want to be with the best teams and that’s certainly the case here,” commented Foster. “I really hope I can make Michael (Andretti) and my new team proud by getting up to speed as quickly as we were able to in Indy Pro 2000 this season.

“Of course, I know Indy Lights will be a massive step up again, but I’m ready for the challenge and confident with the resources this team has that I will be prepared and ready. I’m looking forward to testing with my new team-mates, engineers, mechanics, and everybody else at the team that make this organization great.”