Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari 1-2 finish to set the fastest time during the first free practice session at the Italian Grand Prix. Using medium tyres, Leclerc recorded a time of 1m23.008s at the Monza circuit, edging out his teammate Lewis Hamilton by 0.173 seconds.
Ferrari Upgrades and Tribute Livery
Ferrari arrived at its home track sporting a throwback livery that pays tribute to Michael Schumacher’s first season with the team in 1996. According to Autosport, the Scuderia introduced a suite of latest upgrades for the event, including a refined low-drag rear wing and its second permitted engine upgrade, which is intended to reduce its power unit deficit relative to Mercedes.
Hamilton, who expressed a dream of claiming a record sixth win at Monza—his first as a Ferrari driver—finished second on the same medium compound as Leclerc. George Russell took third place for Mercedes with a lap of 1m23.312s on soft tyres, finishing 0.304 seconds behind the lead Ferrari.
Championship Leader Faces Penalty
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli finished fifth, 0.636 seconds off the pace. The 20-year-old Italian faces a back-of-the-grid penalty for his home race due to a full power unit change, as he exceeded his permitted allocation of engine components for the season following previous reliability issues. Consequently, Antonelli focused on optimizing his race set-up during the session.
Lando Norris, the reigning world champion who enters Monza following consecutive victories in the Netherlands and Hungary, finished sixth. Norris, who trails Antonelli by 83 points in the standings, was 0.711 seconds off the leading pace. His McLaren team used the session to debut a rotating H-Wing.
Rookie Rotations and Session Interruptions
The session was interrupted by a red flag when Colton Herta’s Cadillac suffered hydraulic issues, forcing the American to park the car. Herta, one of four rookies on track, did not earn a superlicence point for the run due to a lack of mileage.
Several teams utilized the non-sprint weekend to satisfy mandated rookie FP1 runs. Other rookie participants included:
- Paul Aron: Finished 10th for Alpine, standing in for Pierre Gasly.
- Arvid Lindblad: Finished seventh for Racing Bulls.
- Gabriel Bortoleto: Finished eighth for Audi.
- Ayumu Iwasa: Finished 17th while replacing Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.
Liam Lawson, who is deputising for Isack Hadjar while the latter recovers from a wrist injury, finished fourth in the Red Bull. Yuki Tsunoda also took part in the session, acting as a stand-in for Lawson at Racing Bulls and finishing 12th.
Extreme Weather Conditions
The FIA declared a heat hazard for the weekend after temperatures soared above the 31-degree threshold. This declaration forced drivers to either carry additional ballast or wear cooling vests to manage the European heatwave. Officials expect temperatures to remain above this threshold for every on-track session.
The top results from the first practice session are as follows:
| Position | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m23.008s |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +0.173s |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | +0.304s |
| 4 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull | +0.425s |
| 5 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +0.636s |
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