What happened in Italian GP first practice
Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two in first practice for the Italian Grand Prix, marking an encouraging start for Ferrari’s ADUO 2 upgraded F1 engine at the team’s home race.
Ferrari decided not to use the soft tyre at all in FP1 at Monza, running the hard compound on both cars for the early part of the session before switching to the medium.
Leclerc went to the top on a 1m23.008s best, with Lewis Hamilton later slotting into second, 0.173s down.
George Russell was third fastest in the quickest of the Mercedes, using the soft tyre to lap 0.304s slower than Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who will start from the back of the grid after taking a new Mercedes engine for his home race, was fifth, six tenths off the pace and just under two tenths behind the Red Bull of Liam Lawson, who is again subbing for the injured Isack Hadjar this weekend.
Lando Norris, winner of the past two grands prix for McLaren, rounded out the top six, like the Ferraris using the medium tyre, ahead of Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls), Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi and the Alpines of Franco Colapinto and rookie Paul Aron.
Aron was the quickest of four rookie drivers appearing in this session, despite a few close calls with other cars - including Racing Bulls sub Yuki Tsunoda, who got blocked by the Alpine approaching Parabolica.
Oscar Piastri was only 11th in the other McLaren, despite using the soft tyre. McLaren also trialled its new upside down H-wing during this session.
Tsunoda was 11th quickest, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi and Ollie Bearman, whose Haas is the only customer using the new Ferrari engine this weekend.
Rookie FP1 driver Luke Browning was just under a tenth quicker than regular Williams driver Carlos Sainz, despite a couple of moments through the first chicane, though unlike Browning Sainz didn’t run the soft tyre in FP1.
Ayumu Iwasa was only 17th in Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, half a second clear of Fernando Alonso in the underpowered Aston Martin (another to eschew the soft tyre).
Colton Herta was the other FP1 substitute, but the Cadillac usually driven by Sergio Perez broke down with a suspected hydraulics problem before Herta could set a proper lap time.
