Force India's Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg impress in FP1 of Italian Grand Prix

MONZA: Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished an impressive fourth and fifth fastest, respectively as Force India witnessed a great opening practice session in the Italian Grand Prix here today.

Perez clocked 1:25.278s to finish fourth ahead of teammate Hulkenberg (1:25.325s).

Meanwhile, it was not a good opening outing for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel, who finished practice in third place, was over 1.5 seconds behind the leading Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.

The sessions witnessed a number of spins and offs as drivers tested the limits of their cars.

The only red flag in the session came midway through the 90 minutes when Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz beached his car in the gravel after a spin.

Hamilton, the current world championship points leader, was the fastest clocking a timing of 1:24.279s ahead of Nico Rosberg (1:24.300s).