Charles Leclerc lit up Monza on Friday morning, heading a Ferrari one-two with Lewis Hamilton as the Scuderia’s upgraded power unit made an immediate statement at their home Grand Prix.
The Monegasque stopped the clock at 1:23.008, 0.173s clear of Hamilton, with George Russell another tenth back in third for Mercedes. On paper, it looked like Ferrari had walked into their temple and found an extra gear.
On the stopwatch, they had.
On the tyre sheets, it looked even better.
Both Leclerc and Hamilton set their best laps on the medium compound. Russell’s quickest effort came on the softer, theoretically faster tyre – and he still couldn’t dislodge them. For a team that arrived with an FIA-confirmed power deficit to Red Bull and Mercedes, Ferrari’s new engine – the second and final upgrade they’re allowed this season – landed with a thump.
They didn’t stop at horsepower. Ferrari also rolled out a Monza-specific chassis package, trimming drag and sharpening the car for the long, flat-out blasts that define this circuit. The early signs? Encouraging, bordering on ominous for the rest.
World Championship Leader
Yet the story of the session wasn’t just red cars and raw pace.
World championship leader Kimi Antonelli, staring at a back-of-the-grid start on Sunday after exceeding his engine allocation, ended the session fifth for Mercedes. On the timesheet, that put him behind Liam Lawson’s Red Bull and just ahead of Lando Norris’s McLaren. In context, it hinted at something more.
Antonelli knows qualifying is largely academic this weekend. No matter how quick he is over one lap, the penalties will dump him to the rear. That changes the approach. There’s little incentive to chase glory runs in first practice when the focus is race pace, tyre life, and Sunday’s damage limitation. So a quiet fifth, with plenty likely left in hand, will not worry Mercedes.
It should, however, worry everyone else that he still leads the standings by 59 points over both Russell and Hamilton, with Norris 83 points adrift in fourth despite back-to-back wins that have dragged him back into the title conversation. The Italian arrives at his home race with a cushion, a penalty, and absolutely nothing to lose in attack.
Red Bull's Morning
Behind the Ferrari–Mercedes headline, Red Bull’s morning carried a different kind of intrigue.
Lawson delivered an assured lap to go fourth, an important marker on a day when Red Bull ran a makeshift line-up. He stepped in for Isack Hadjar, who remains sidelined with a wrist injury picked up over the summer break, and seized the chance to remind the paddock of his sharpness.
On the other side of the garage, Ayumu Iwasa took over from Max Verstappen and finished 17th. It was one of several rookie outings, with teams obliged to hand practice mileage to young drivers. The raw times matter less there; the laps, the data, and the experience matter far more.
Paul Aron made the most of his opportunity. The Alpine junior was the standout of the newcomers, slotting into 10th and keeping his name very much in the frame as the team weighs its future options.
Further down, Colton Herta’s long-awaited run in the Cadillac was cut short by a technical issue, a frustrating end to a session that was supposed to give both driver and manufacturer a clear read on their package. Britain’s Luke Browning, in the Williams, quietly banked laps and finished 15th, another rookie ticking off a key milestone.
All of this played out under the familiar Monza backdrop: grandstands already tinged red, tifosi filtering in, and a Ferrari car that, for once, looked as quick as the atmosphere demanded.
The lap charts will reset in Practice Two, then again on Saturday morning, and once more when it really counts in qualifying. The upgrades still need to hold up across long runs, under higher track temperatures, and in traffic. Mercedes still look like they have more to show, particularly with Antonelli sandbagging his one-lap hand. Red Bull, even with a split driver roster, rarely stay quiet for long.
But for now, the message is simple.
Ferrari came to Monza needing proof that their development path is working. Leclerc and Hamilton – in the same machinery, on the same tyre – just gave them exactly that.
The question now is whether this is a Friday flourish, or the start of a weekend that finally belongs to the home team.
