Italian Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton sets pace after Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashes on Mercedes debut

Lewis Hamilton set the pace for Mercedes in Friday practice at the Italian Grand Prix as his likely replacement Andrea Kimi Antonelli crashed on his debut for the team.

Hamilton headed McLaren’s Lando Norris by 0.003 seconds, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz third in the second session. They were followed by their team-mates Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc.

Championship leader Max Verstappen was only 13th fastest after making a mistake on his qualifying simulation run and running wide at Parabolica.

But the Dutchman looked quick on the race-simulation runs later in the session, pretty much neck and neck with title rival Norris.

In the first session, Verstappen was fastest by 0.228 seconds, with a time set on the soft tyre, from Leclerc, who was on the medium tyre. McLaren’s Lando Norris was third ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

Antonelli drove George Russell’s car in first practice, as part of his preparations for F1 – he is expected to be named as Russell’s team-mate at Mercedes next year in the coming days, following Hamilton’s move to Ferrari.

The 18-year-old Italian went fastest on his first flying lap but – in trying to further improve after Hamilton had beaten his time by 0.6secs – he took too much speed into Parabolica and crashed heavily.

He was unhurt but the car was badly damaged and was not ready for Russell until nearly 25 minutes into the second session.

Russell’s day was then compromised further when Kevin Magnussen crashed his Haas a few minutes later, leading to a red flag for just over 10 minutes.

But Russell still managed to end the day sixth fastest after a run on the soft tyres.

Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg, RB’s Daniel Ricciardo and the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll completed the top 10.