Hamilton heads field in first practice at Monza - MotorSportsTalk

Lewis Hamilton has ended his run of poor performances during Friday’s practice sessions by finishing quickest in FP1 at Monza this morning.

The British driver posted a fastest time of 1:25.565 to finish just a fraction ahead of home favorite Fernando Alonso, with the Ferrari driver trailing by 0.035 seconds. Capping off a good morning for Mercedes was Nico Rosberg in third, who put in some good times on the hard tire late on to move ahead of two-time Italian GP winner Sebastian Vettel. The Red Bull driver was forced to settle for fourth come the checkered flag.

McLaren showed signs of a resurgence by finishing in sixth and seventh with Sergio Perez leading Jenson Button, whilst Pastor Maldonado and Esteban Gutierrez also impressed to end up ninth and eleventh respectively. Sauber have gambled on using the passive DRS device on their car this weekend, despite the low downforce nature of Monza appearing to eradicate any advantage that could be gained by using it.

James Calado, Heikki Kovalainen and Rodolfo Gonzalez all enjoyed run-outs as part of their reserve driver duties on Friday morning. Calado put in a very strong performance, finishing seventeenth and ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who suffered a gearbox failure late on. Kovalainen and Gonzalez could not match the pace of their colleagues, with the 1.6 second gap between Chilton and Gonzalez being cause for concern at Marussia.

The session ended with a strange incident for Ferrari. Fernando Alonso was attempting a practice start at the end of the pit-lane and teammate Felipe Massa looked to pass him with a few seconds remaining. However, the red light came on, thus closing the pit lane and forcing the Brazilian driver to hit the brakes and take evasive action. Although Alonso managed to continue, Massa was forced to leave his Ferrari at the end of the pit lane and walk back on foot.

Mercedes will be pleased to have begun the weekend in such impressive fashion, but with the soft tire running yet to take place, it is hard to tell just whether or not Hamilton will be able to secure his fifth consecutive pole position at Monza on Saturday.

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In a continuing effort to help fans keep track of the on track action, SuperMotocross is in the process of developing and implementing leader lights for the unified series.

Currently Supercross (SMX) utilizes stanchions in the infield that are triggered manually by a race official. At least two stanchions are used in each race as a way to draw the eye to the leader, which is especially useful in the tight confines of the stadium series when lapping often begins before the halfway mark in the 22-bike field. This system has been in place for the past two decades.

Later this year, a fully automated system will move to the bike itself to replace the old system. At that point, fans will be able to identify the leader regardless of where he is on track.

The leader lights were tested in the second Anaheim round this year. An example can be seen at the 1:45 mark in the video above on the No. 69 bike.

“What we don’t want to do is move too fast, where it’s confusing to people,” said Mike Muye, senior director of operations for Supercross and SMX in a press release. “We’ve really just focused on the leader at this point with the thought that maybe down the road we’ll introduce others.”

Scheduled to debut with the first SuperMotocross World Championship race at zMax Dragway, located just outside the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 3D carbon fiber-printed LED light will be affixed to each motorcycle. Ten timing loops positioned around the track will trigger the lights of the leader, which will turn green.

SMX’s partner LiveTime Scoring helped develop and implement the system that has been tested in some form or fashion since 2019.

When the leader lights are successfully deployed, SuperMotocross will explore expanding the system to identify the second- and third-place riders. Depending on need and fan acceptance, more positions could be added.

SuperMotocross is exploring future enhancements, including allowing for live fan interaction with the lights and ways to use the lighting system during the race’s opening ceremony.

Read more about SuperMotocross