Photo: Renault Sport/DPPI
Danish youngster Kevin Magnussen narrowly topped the first free practice session of the 2013 Formula Renault 3.5 season at Monza, beating Antonio Felix da Costa by just 0.15 seconds.
The Portuguese Red Bull Junior Team member led practice for the bigger part of the rain-soaked session, but was dethroned by Magnussen shortly before the flag. Rookies Jazeman Jaafar and Christopher Zanella were, rather unexpectedly, third and fourth, while Lucas Foresti took fifth for Comtec.
The situation in the lower half of the top ten was almost mirrored as Magnussen’s teammate Norman Nato took sixth in his first practice session in the series, ahead of Felix da Costa’s teammate Pietro Fantin. Sergey Sirotkin, Marco Sorensen and Nico Muller rounded out the top ten.
Another practice session is yet to be completed on Friday, while Saturday and Sunday will both feature a qualifying session and a race.
Session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Kevin Magnussen | DAMS | 1:50.041 | 22 | |
| 2 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Arden Caterham | 1:50.198 | 0.157 | 22 |
| 3 | Jazeman Jaafar | Carlin | 1:50.547 | 0.506 | 23 |
| 4 | Christopher Zanella | ISR | 1:50.785 | 0.744 | 25 |
| 5 | Lucas Foresti | SMP Racing by Comtec | 1:50.853 | 0.812 | 23 |
| 6 | Norman Nato | DAMS | 1:50.926 | 0.885 | 18 |
| 7 | Pietro Fantin | Arden Caterham | 1:51.034 | 0.993 | 24 |
| 8 | Sergey Sirotkin | ISR | 1:51.256 | 1.215 | 21 |
| 9 | Marco Sorensen | Lotus | 1:51.364 | 1.323 | 23 |
| 10 | Nico Muller | International Draco Racing | 1:51.556 | 1.515 | 21 |
| 11 | Andre Negrao | International Draco Racing | 1:51.567 | 1.526 | 21 |
| 12 | Matias Laine | P1 Motorsport | 1:51.665 | 1.624 | 21 |
| 13 | Stoffel Vandoorne | Fortec Motorsports | 1:51.783 | 1.742 | 25 |
| 14 | Oliver Webb | Fortec Motorsports | 1:51.807 | 1.766 | 25 |
| 15 | Mikhail Aleshin | Tech 1 Racing | 1:51.833 | 1.792 | 22 |
| 16 | Will Stevens | P1 Motorsport | 1:51.839 | 1.798 | 18 |
| 17 | Nigel Melker | Tech 1 Racing | 1:52.048 | 2.007 | 21 |
| 18 | Daniil Move | SMP Racing by Comtec | 1:52.099 | 2.058 | 23 |
| 19 | Zoel Amberg | Pons Racing | 1:52.462 | 2.421 | 24 |
| 20 | Marlon Stockinger | Lotus | 1:52.509 | 2.468 | 19 |
| 21 | Carlos Huertas | Carlin | 1:52.958 | 2.917 | 22 |
| 22 | Mihai Marinescu | Zeta Corse | 1:52.981 | 2.940 | 20 |
| 23 | Arthur Pic | AV Formula | 1:53.141 | 3.100 | 17 |
| 24 | Emmanuel Piget | Zeta Corse | 1:53.939 | 3.898 | 21 |
| 25 | Yann Cunha | AV Formula | 1:53.976 | 3.935 | 18 |
| 26 | Nikolay Martsenko | Pons Racing | 1:54.691 | 4.650 | 18 |