Lando Norris casts aside F1 title horror as Kimi Antonelli endures more Monza misery

Lando Norris took the first restorative step toward eating into McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri's F1 drivers' championship lead.

A rare technical failure with seven laps remaining of Sunday's Dutch Grand Prix pitched Norris into a 34-point deficit to Piastri who went on to take the chequered flag and put him in pole position to becoming champion.

In need of a response, Norris at least set the leading time in Friday practice for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza, posting a best lap of 1:19.878s.

Behind him, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Williams' Carlos Sainz, the Monêgasque's former Scuderia team-mate, both finished within a tenth of Norris, with Piastri only fourth quickest, and under investigation with the stewards for failing to follow race director Rui Marques' instructions.

For Kimi Antonelli, just when he needed a clean weekend after what unfolded in Zandvoort five days ago, the 19-year-old could not have asked to have suffered a worse moment.

One year on from crashing out minutes into first practice a year ago ahead of being confirmed as a Mercedes driver the day after, Antonelli found himself in the gravel again nine minutes into FP2.

Approaching the second Lesmo, Antonelli lost the rear end of his W16, sending him into the gravel from which he was unable to escape, sparking a red flag and a seven-minute delay.

Norris holds sway

At that early stage, Norris held a two-tenths of a second advantage over Piastri with a lap of 1:21.012s, on medium tyres and almost a second off the pace set by Lewis Hamilton in his Ferrari in FP1.

Once running resumed, naturally it was a time that did not live long at the top of the timesheet. Around a track expected to favour Williams this weekend, Sainz moved half-a-second clear on the yellow-striped Pirellis. 

Approaching the midway point, and in switching to soft rubber, Norris became the first driver in practice to dip below 80 seconds, clocking a 1:19.878s. It was a time that could not be bettered.

After topping FP1, albeit with the suggestion Ferrari had turned up its engines for headline times, Hamilton then set the second fastest lap at that stage, two-tenths behind Norris.

As for Leclerc, he complained of "no grip, like none at all" after his first flying lap that left him half-a-second behind Norris.

On a follow-up flier after being off the pace on his first, Sainz posted a time just 0.096s adrift of Norris before Verstappen thrust himself into the mix, after a mistake on his first run, positioning himself just seven-thousandths behind Hamilton in fourth.

After finding himself adrift of Norris on his initial outing, Piastri's follow-up attempt saw him set a lap of 1:20.059s for third before Leclerc finally found some grip to finish 0.083s behind the Briton.

In the long-run laps that followed, Leclerc escaped a major incident through Ascari, enduring a left-front lock-up on the approach, forcing him across the gravel before managing to make his way back on track.

Moments later, Hamilton almost slid off at the second Lesmo, the scene of many a driver enduring a dip into the gravel with the left-hand side of the car.

Come the flag, behind fourth-quickest Piastri were Hamilton and Verstappen ahead of Williams' Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg in his Sauber, followed by Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, with George Russell completing the top 10 in his Mercedes, four-tenths down.

Alpine's Franco Colapinto was slowest, and on soft rubber, finishing two-tenths behind Antonelli on hards, and who only managed four laps.