Summary Friday in Tuscany: Mercedes fast, but Verstappen follows

FP1

The Mercedes are, as expected,very fast. In FP1 Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time, but he was closely followed by Max Verstappen of Red Bull. Surprisingly Charles Leclerc managed to steer his Ferrari into P3. The results have been so disappointing for the team in recent weeks, and Leclerc himself says they don't know where this suddenly came from.

FP2

In the second free practice it became clear how spectacular Mugello can be, when most drivers went outside on the fast soft tyre. Again Bottas was the fastest, teammate Hamilton came after him by two tenths. Max Verstappen completed the top three, he was just a bit slower than Hamilton. Remarkable during this session was the speed of Renault, Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon set the fifth and sixth fastest times respectively.

Grid penalty Perez

A striking incident with the plagued Sergio Perez of Racing Point during FP2. The Mexican drove out of the pits on the back of Kimi Raikkonen's Alfa. Probably because Raikkonen drove slower than Perez expected. This incident gave Checo a grid penalty of one place.

Target for Albon

This morning Helmut Marko set a goal for Albon: he must be within three-tenths of Max Verstappen's lap times. The young Thai has had a number of disappointing weekends, and the victory of Pierre Gasly last week has only made thing harder. Nevertheless, Marko, together with team boss Christian Horner, is positive about Albon's development.