Lewis Hamilton led a Ferrari one-two in first practice for the Italian Grand Prix; the Englishman set a 20.177 on the soft tyre, going just over a tenth and a half faster than his teammate Charles Leclerc. Despite the double retirement in Zandvoort five days ago both Ferraris appeared confident going into the team’s home race.
A year on from Leclerc’s second victory at Monza, Ferrari looked once again to master the unique low-downforce conditions required at the ‘Temple of Speed’. The Monacan led most of the session, until Hamilton who holds the joint record for number of wins at Monza, went a tenth faster.
However, Hamilton already knows he will start Sunday’s race from no higher than sixth due to a grid penalty carried over from last week in Zandvoort for a yellow-flag infringement ahead of that race, but will surely be buoyed by his strong start. However, Leclerc’s best time came on his third run on the soft tyres.
He aborted his second run after the session was red-flagged, caused by a Sauber going wide and spreading gravel over the track. But he was investigated by the stewards briefly for overtaking under a red flag, which could have resulted in a penalty but was cleared of wrongdoing after the stewards concluded there was nothing he could do.
Several drivers ran wide during the session, and the red flag was as a result of Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar running off track at the Ascari chicane and spraying the circuit with gravel. Gravel at the second Lesmo, deposited by Norris, also needed to be cleared
Hadjar escaped without damage to his Racing Bull, but the incident saw the session briefly red-flagged to clear away the gravel. That lead to Leclerc having to abort his soft run and when he overtook under the red flag.
Leclerc was just under four-tenths faster than his former teammate Carlos Sainz. Williams go into this weekend expecting a strong result, given their car has appeared quick in a straight line and high-speed corners. Sainz was, however, over half a second off the outright pace set by Hamilton as he went four hundredths ahead of Max Verstappen.
Kimi Antonelli put his Mercedes fifth fastest, going over three tenths behind the Red Bull, as he went eight hundredths ahead of Lando Norris. McLaren had a low-key start to the weekend Norris was nine tenths off the pace set by Hamilton as he went three hundredths ahead of Alex Albon.
Norris also had a moment where he went wide through the gravel at the Lesmos and another at the Rettifilo chicane, while his teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri sat out FP1, allowing Alex Dune to have his second outing. The Irishman finished sixteenth half a second off Norris.
Norris goes into this weekend following a retirement late on at Zandvoort. George Russell was eighth, four thousandths ahead of Fernando Alonso and fresh from his maiden podium, Isack Hadjar completed the top ten. However, Russell session ended the session stopped at the Roggia chicane because of a power unit issue.
The two Sauber’s had a strong start to the weekend, Gabirel Bortoletto missed out on the top ten by a hundred and a half as he went seven thousandths faster than his teammate Nico Hulkenberg. The German was another to be caught out by the first chicane.
Liam Lawson was thirteenth as he went three thousandths faster than Lance Stroll, with Dunne three tenths further behind. Dunne was the first onto the soft tyres going fifteenth. Esteban Ocon was just over a hundredth faster than his former teammate Pierre Gasly.
Ollie Bearman was nineteenth as he went nearly a tenth ahead of Alpine reserve driver Paul Aron. The Estonian suffered a spin at the Variante della Roggia; he turned for the entry and lost the rear end as a consequence.
