Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 in Italian GP FP1 as Hamilton impresses on Monza debut

Charles Leclerc topped first free practice at the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix on Friday, leading a Ferrari 1-2 at Monza with a 1m23.008s lap on medium tyres. Team-mate Lewis Hamilton slotted in 0.173 seconds behind, while George Russell claimed third for Mercedes, three tenths off the pace on soft rubber.

Leclerc set his benchmark roughly halfway through the session, lifting the partisan Italian crowd that has gathered at the historic circuit. Ferrari arrived at its home race sporting a throwback livery paying tribute to Michael Schumacher’s first season with the Scuderia in 1996 — 30 years ago — and backed by its latest package of upgrades. Those updates include a refined low-drag rear wing and a second permitted engine upgrade designed to close the gap to Mercedes on power.

The session was briefly interrupted when Cadillac test driver Colton Herta was asked to park his car with hydraulic issues, bringing out the red flag. Herta had been chasing a superlicence point from his practice appearance, but the lack of mileage means he will not earn one for the Monza outing. Reigning world champion Lando Norris had been leading the timesheets before the stoppage and ultimately slipped to sixth by the end of the hour.

Liam Lawson, standing in at Red Bull while regular driver Isack Hadjar continues to recover from a wrist injury, finished fourth. Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fifth for Mercedes, though the Italian faces a back-of-the-grid penalty for a full power unit change and is prioritising race-day set-up work.

Arvid Lindblad took seventh for Racing Bulls ahead of Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto. Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Paul Aron — the Estonian filling in for Pierre Gasly in a mandated rookie run — rounded out the top ten.

Oscar Piastri was 11th in the second McLaren, with Yuki Tsunoda 12th after receiving a second chance to occupy Lawson’s temporarily vacated Racing Bulls seat.

Four rookie drivers featured in the session overall. Ayumu Iwasa substituted for Max Verstappen at Red Bull, and Williams junior Luke Browning drove in place of Alex Albon, as teams used the non-sprint weekend to fulfil one of their four mandatory rookie FP1 appearances for the season.

With track temperatures exceeding the agreed 31-degree threshold — a condition expected to persist across every on-track session at Monza — tyre management and cooling will be key themes as the weekend develops.