Charles Leclerc lit up Monza in first practice, topping the timesheets and leading a Ferrari one-two ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton, with Mercedes’ George Russell third.
On a baking early afternoon, as most of the field bolted on soft tyres for their first serious laps, Leclerc went the other way. He stayed on mediums, attacked the lap, and stopped the clock at 1m 23.008s. Nobody touched it. Not on softs, not on fumes. The time stood until the chequered flag.
This was no routine FP1, either. Four rookies joined the field and scrambled the order. Ayumu Iwasa stepped into Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. Williams handed Alex Albon’s car to Luke Browning. Paul Aron returned in Pierre Gasly’s Alpine. Colton Herta climbed into Cadillac’s Sergio Perez machine for his third outing of the year.
There was another reshuffle at Red Bull and its sister outfit. Liam Lawson continued in the senior team for a second straight weekend, again replacing the injured Isack Hadjar. That kept Yuki Tsunoda in Lawson’s usual Racing Bulls seat, extending his own run in that garage.
Session Start
Iwasa led a train of cars out as FP1 began at 1230 local time, the sun high and the track already offering grip. Most teams opened on the hard compound, some on mediums, a few gambling with softs. With almost everyone out early, traffic became a story of its own. The rookies felt it first. Iwasa complained over the radio after catching Aron’s Alpine parked on the racing line.
Early Phase
Up front, Russell drew first blood. In the opening phase he punched in a 1m 23.802s, nearly four tenths clear of Lando Norris and good enough to set the early standard for Mercedes.
Then the session stuttered. Herta’s Cadillac ground to a halt with what the team suspected was a hydraulic issue, the American ordered to pull over and kill the engine. Yellow flags flew, a Virtual Safety Car followed, and then the red flag came out as marshals recovered the stricken MAC-26.
When the pit lane reopened with just over half the hour remaining, Norris sat on top with a 1m 23.719s. The restart triggered the first real soft-tyre runs. Mercedes sent both Russell and Kimi Antonelli out on the red-walled rubber, hunting for a statement lap.
Leclerc's Response
Russell delivered first and jumped back to P1. The response from Leclerc was ruthless. On mediums, not softs, the Ferrari driver threaded the needle through the chicanes and smashed the benchmark with that 1m 23.008s lap. The grandstands found their voice. This is Ferrari territory, and the Tifosi knew exactly what they were seeing.
Leclerc’s time put him three tenths clear of Russell. Hamilton slotted into third, Antonelli – wearing a Valentino Rossi-inspired helmet for his home weekend – held fourth. Tempers flickered again as Aron got in the way once more, this time drawing an angry radio message from Tsunoda.
Final Quarter
The final quarter of the session turned into the usual FP1 grind. Fuel loads went up, run plans took over, and the track stayed busy as teams chased long-run data rather than glory laps. Even so, Hamilton managed to improve and climbed to second, edging to within two tenths of his Ferrari team mate.
No one could live with Leclerc’s earlier strike. The Monegasque ended FP1 on top, heading a Ferrari one-two with Hamilton, while Russell finished three tenths off the pace in third.
Lawson underlined his growing assurance in the Red Bull with fourth place. Antonelli backed up his strong showing in fifth, ahead of Norris in sixth. Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad impressed in seventh, followed by Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto in the Alpine and Aron, who rounded out the top 10 despite his traffic troubles.
Oscar Piastri took 11th for McLaren, just ahead of Tsunoda and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg. Ollie Bearman, in an upgraded Haas, claimed 14th. Browning ended his Williams debut in 15th, with team mate Carlos Sainz behind him.
Iwasa finished his first Red Bull run of the day further down the order, ahead of Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas and the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.
Herta propped up the times after completing only five laps before his stoppage.
Next up is Free Practice 2 at 1600 local time. Leclerc has already laid down a marker. Now the question is whether anyone can knock Ferrari off their perch once the serious work begins.
