rewrite this content and keep HTML tags
The opening day at Monza was marked by a battle between McLaren and Ferrari. While the Maranello squad took the spotlight in front of their home fans in the morning with a one-two, the Papaya team reclaimed top spot in the afternoon, with Lando Norris edging Charles Leclerc by just 0.083 seconds.
Both teams also looked very similar in race pace, with Norris and Leclerc setting the benchmark ahead of the rest.
It was also a good day for Lewis Hamilton, who topped FP1, and for Max Verstappen, who looked comfortable in the RB21, particularly over long runs.
Another disappointing day for Kimi Antonelli, who, after a strong start in the morning with a fifth-place finish, spun in FP2 within the first few minutes, effectively ending his session. The Italian ended up in the gravel, getting stuck and forced to climb out of the car.
Sergio Perez’ father, Antonio Perez Garibay, recently made headlines after voicing his discontent at the Red Bull Racing leadership for not giving his son the car he deserved the become world champion. Jos Verstappen disagreed with the Mexican’s statements.
According to the Mexican politician, had Red Bull given Perez the car ‘he deserved’, the Guadalajara born driver, not Max Verstappen, would’ve become world champion in 2024.
He also suggested the reason why the Austrians and Verstappen had won their championships was due to Perez. He topped off his claims by saying that Red Bull never gave him the same material as Verstappen.
