FP1: Hamilton heads dominant Ferrari one-two at Monza
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton set the benchmark in the opening practice session at the Italian Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc completing a Ferrari one-two in FP1. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on the opening one-hour session from the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
Having endured a shock result last time out at Zandvoort, Ferrari presented themselves in a much more improved form in the opening session at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.
Seven-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who will suffer a five-place grid penalty this weekend for an installation lap indiscretion last weekend in Zandvoort set the benchmark with a time of 1m 20.117s in FP1, using Pirelli's red-walled soft tyres. His team-mate Charles Leclerc ended up second quickest with just over a tenth behind.
Although Williams appreared to struggle for grip at Zandvoort, the long straights and slow-speed corners of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza seem to favour their 2025 F1 car which enabled Carlos Sainz to be the best of the rest, whilst his team-mate Alex Albon took seventh.
Reigning champion Max Verstappen led the leaderboard in the first half of the session, but dropped back to fourth when drivers completed their soft-tyre low-fuel simulation runs, but it was still an encouraging result considering the fact how much Red Bull struggled for pace at Monza last year.
Having spent the first part of the FP1 in the last segment of the leaderboard, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli put in a great effort in the end to finish the first one-hour session in P5 in front of his home crowd.
On the back of his disappointing weekend at Zandvoort, title challenger Lando Norris finished only sixth quickest - nearly one second off the leading pace.
George Russell was eighth but the Briton's session came to an early end after his Mercedes stopped out on track in the final minute, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car.
Aston Martin's two-time world champion Fernando Alonso finished ninth, while Isack Hadjar, who secured his maiden podium at the Dutch Grand Prix just five days ago, completed the top ten.
Gabriel Bortoleto led Kick Sauber team mate Nico Hulkenberg, the second Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, who scored his first points at Zandvoort since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Hot on the heels of his sensational recovery drive at Zandvoort, Lance Stroll took 15th, while Alexander Dunne, who took over championship leader Oscar Piastri's car as part of the mandatory rookie outing, finished a place behind the Canadian driver.
Haas' Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly's Alpine, Oliver Bearman and Paul Aron, who completed his third FP1 outing this year, but his first with Alpine, brought up the rear of the field.
