Lando Norris looked assured at the top of the leaderboard in FP1 at the Italian Grand Prix, with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri facing a post-race stewards' summons.
The session was almost immediately interrupted by Kimi Antonelli - who went off on his FP1 debut last year at Monza and gave his critics no respite here by beaching his Mercedes at the second Lesmo with just over 50 minutes to go.
🔴 RED FLAG 🔴
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 5, 2025
Antonelli has spun off into the gravel and his FP2 is over ❌#F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/DwGNUr8ZWV
That eventually brought out a brief red flag, which left 45 minutes of action.
During that red flag, Piastri allegedly entered the fast lane before the restart time of the session was confirmed - something that earned Franco Colapinto's Alpine a one-place grid penalty at Imola.
The intervention meant the faster, qualifying simulation laps came shortly after and then most teams switched to longer runs at the end of the day instead of the usual opposite scenario.
Lando Norris repeatedly jumped to the top of the leaderboard each time he was tested by anyone and managed a 1m19.878s, 0.083s ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, which looked more of a handful in the simulated race running when he locked up at the Ascari chicane and went through the gravel.
He said the car was very difficult to drive in that long-run period, and it certainly looked it.
Norris however, looked really comfortable in the longer runs. Starting strong on weekends has been a good trait of his this year, but it’s tomorrow and Sunday where it will really count.
Arguably, the star of the session was Carlos Sainz, who built on his strong FP1 to constantly bother Norris at the top of the timing screens for Williams.
He was 0.096s adrift and ahead of Oscar Piastri.
McLaren drivers Norris and Piastri seemed to be running different wing levels, which explained a bigger initial gap between them, but Piastri eventually brought that down to 0.181s.
Piastri might be the runaway championship leader and favourite at this stage but he could also be looking at seven years' bad luck, after finding his right-front mirror was cracked after he took over the car for the first time of the day. Alex Dunne deputised for FP1.
Piastri is now being investigated for entering the fast lane in the pits before the re-start of the session was confirmed.
Behind Piastri, Lewis Hamilton made sure both Ferraris were in the top five at their home grand prix and in Niki Lauda tribute liveries.
Hamilton clearly did not enjoy the same success as he did in FP1 when he topped the session, and complained of a loss of power between Turns 6 and 7 - the two Lesmos - late in the session on the longer runs.
Max Verstappen was one of the many, many victims of the second Lesmo where he said the car was “becoming jumpy”.
But at least he was the last driver within two-tenths of Norris, and his longer runs looked encouraging.
Alex Albon took seventh ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who had a good-looking session for Sauber.
Yuki Tsunoda - within two tenths of team-mate Verstappen - was ninth ahead of George Russell.
Lando Norris ended day one of the 2025 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix weekend, with the McLaren driver setting the headline pace in Friday's second practice session.
His 1m19.878s lap left him 0.083s clear of Charles Leclerc - who had also been second fastest in FP1 on Friday morning behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Here's the final times from both practice sessions so far at Monza:
FP2 times
1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m19.878s
2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.083s
3 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +0.096s
4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.181s
5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.192s
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.199s
7 Alex Albon (Williams) +0.301s
8 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +0.363s
9 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +0.391s
10 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.398s
11 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +0.505s
12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +0.597s
13 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.650s
14 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +0.729s
15 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.767s
16 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +0.776s
17 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.933s
18 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.224s
19 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +1.489s
20 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.686s
